Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US

Abstract There is a consensus among academics and policymakers that the excess savings built up by households during the past couple of years are specific to the pandemic. Based on data from the past half century for the US, this article shows that savings generally increase during recessions; the p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liviu Voinea, Prakash Loungani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2022-08-01
Series:Intereconomics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-022-1059-0
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841525641611051008
author Liviu Voinea
Prakash Loungani
author_facet Liviu Voinea
Prakash Loungani
author_sort Liviu Voinea
collection DOAJ
description Abstract There is a consensus among academics and policymakers that the excess savings built up by households during the past couple of years are specific to the pandemic. Based on data from the past half century for the US, this article shows that savings generally increase during recessions; the pandemic is different only by the magnitude of these savings, but not by their sign. Moreover, it suggests that these excess savings are rather compensatory than precautionary, as households save more to rebuild their lost wealth.
format Article
id doaj-art-9e17d29ac0eb451db509343a4bd32e24
institution Kabale University
issn 1613-964X
language English
publishDate 2022-08-01
publisher Springer
record_format Article
series Intereconomics
spelling doaj-art-9e17d29ac0eb451db509343a4bd32e242025-01-17T08:34:13ZengSpringerIntereconomics1613-964X2022-08-0157423323710.1007/s10272-022-1059-0Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the USLiviu Voinea0Prakash Loungani1International Monetary FundInternational Monetary FundAbstract There is a consensus among academics and policymakers that the excess savings built up by households during the past couple of years are specific to the pandemic. Based on data from the past half century for the US, this article shows that savings generally increase during recessions; the pandemic is different only by the magnitude of these savings, but not by their sign. Moreover, it suggests that these excess savings are rather compensatory than precautionary, as households save more to rebuild their lost wealth.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-022-1059-0
spellingShingle Liviu Voinea
Prakash Loungani
Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
Intereconomics
title Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
title_full Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
title_fullStr Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
title_full_unstemmed Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
title_short Excess Savings Are Recession-Specific and Compensatory: Evidence From the US
title_sort excess savings are recession specific and compensatory evidence from the us
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-022-1059-0
work_keys_str_mv AT liviuvoinea excesssavingsarerecessionspecificandcompensatoryevidencefromtheus
AT prakashloungani excesssavingsarerecessionspecificandcompensatoryevidencefromtheus