Why Aren't Savings Rates in Latin America Procyclical? / Philip R. Lane, Aaron Tornell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lane, Philip R.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Tornell, Aaron.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6502.

NBER working paper series no. w6502

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1998.

Summary:

We document a striking empirical regularity: Latin American savings rates are as a rule substantially less procyclical than for OECD countries and in some cases are actually countercyclical. We build a non-representative agent intertemporal macroeconomic model that rationalizes this phenomenon as the equilibrium outcome of interaction between multiple groups that have common access to aggregate income. We conclude by suggesting that institutional reform may hold the key to improving the cyclical behavior of savings in Latin America.

Notes:

Print version record

April 1998.