The Saving Behavior of Elderly People in Japan: Analysis Based on Micro-Data from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure

Masahiko Nakazawa, Kazuaki Kikuta and Yasutaka Yoneta
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Masahiko Nakazawa: Visiting Scholar, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance
Kazuaki Kikuta: Former Visiting Scholar, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance
Yasutaka Yoneta: Ph.D. candidate, Hitotsubashi University; Visiting Scholar, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance

Public Policy Review, 2018, vol. 14, issue 4, 691-730

Abstract: This paper examines elderly people’s saving behavior by conducting a bias-adjusted analysis concerning the amounts of their savings and asset liquidations using micro data obtained through the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in consideration of the results of past studies. The main findings of this paper are that: (1) among elderly households, households of married couples and one-person households (hereinafter referred to as “independent elderly households”) usually build up savings when working and liquidate assets when not working; (2) in the case of non-working households, the asset liquidation amount per month is 14,400 yen, markedly smaller than the figure of 97,500 yen indicated in the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure; (3) households comprised of elderly people and their children (hereinafter referred to as “extended households”) generally build up savings regardless of whether they work; (4) among independent elderly households, there is a tendency that the proportion of households that build up savings (savings rate) is higher in higher income, asset and age brackets; and (5) when independent elderly households are classified by the existence or non-existence of children, the savings rate is higher among those which have children than among those which do not.

Keywords: National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure; micro data; savings; life cycle hypothesis; elderly households (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D31 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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