Household saving behaviour and credit constraints in the euro area

Julia Le Blanc, Alessandro Porpiglia, Federica Teppa (), Junyi Zhu and Michael Ziegelmeyer

No 93, BCL working papers from Central Bank of Luxembourg

Abstract: We study the role of household saving behaviour, of individual motives for saving and that of perceived credit constraints in 15 Euro Area countries. The empirical analysis is based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, a new harmonized data set collecting detailed information on wealth holdings, consumption and income at the household level. Since the data is from 2008-2011, strong conclusions as regards the present are diffcult to draw. This is because the crisis may have affected the data, especially in countries that were severely hit. Nevertheless we find evidence of some degree of homogeneity across countries with respect to saving preferences and the relative importance of different motives for saving. In addition, credit constraints are more heterogeneous across geographic regions and perceived to be binding for specific groups of respondents. Households living in Mediterranean countries report to be more subject to binding credit constraints than households living in Non-Mediterranean countries. Household characteristics and institutional macroeconomic variables are significant and economically important determinants of household saving preferences and credit constraints.

Keywords: Household Finance and Consumption; Life Cycle Saving; Survey Data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 D12 D14 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2014-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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https://www.bcl.lu/fr/Recherche/publications/cahiers_etudes/93/BCLWP093.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Household saving behaviour and credit constraints in the euro area (2015)
Working Paper: Household saving behavior and credit constraints in the Euro area (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp093

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