Why Are Saving Rates So High in China?

Dennis Yang, Junsen Zhang and Shaojie Zhou

No 5465, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we define "The Chinese Saving Puzzle" as the persistently high national saving rate at 34-53 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the past three decades and a surge in the saving rate by 11 percentage points from 2000-2008. Using data from the Flow of Funds Accounts (FFA) and Urban Household Surveys (UHS) supplemented by the findings from existing studies, we analyze the sources and causes of China's high and rising saving rates in the government, corporate, and household sectors. Although the causes of China's high saving are complex, we suggest that the evolving economic, demographic, and policy trends in the internal and external environments of the Chinese economy will likely lead to a decline in national saving in the foreseeable future.

Keywords: international comparison; aggregate saving; demographic structure; household behavior; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 E21 J10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2011-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (43)

Published - published in: Joseph Fan and Randall Morck (eds.), 2012, Capitalizing China. University of Chicago Press, 249-282

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https://docs.iza.org/dp5465.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Why Are Saving Rates So High in China? (2012)
Working Paper: Why Are Saving Rates so High in China? (2011)
Working Paper: Why are Saving Rates so High in China? (2010)
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