Household Savings in the Transition

Denizer, Cevdet; Wolf, Holger C.; Ying, Yvonne

Household Savings in the Transition

Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 30, No. 3, September 2002

Posted: 18 Oct 2002

See all articles by Cevdet Denizer

Cevdet Denizer

Center for Economics and Econometrics; World Bank

Holger C. Wolf

Georgetown University - Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS)

We explore household savings decision in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland during the transition from plan to market, finding four main results. First, except for the age profile, the effects of standard determinants on savings are comparable for transition and market economies. Second, we do not find support for a precautionary savings motive. Third, the evidence on consumption smoothing is mixed. Education of the head of the household, but not employment characteristics, are linked robustly to savings. Fourth, ownership of durables is negatively correlated with savings, consistent with the presence of anticipatory savings.

JEL Classification: D12, D31, D91, O16, P36

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Denizer, Cevdet and Wolf, Holger C. and Ying, Yvonne, Household Savings in the Transition. Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 30, No. 3, September 2002. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=339400