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A note on the relevance of prudence in precautionary saving

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  • Luigi Ventura

    (Department of Economics, University of Rome "La Sapienza")

Abstract

The aim of this note is to suggest that prudence, i.e. convexity of marginal utility, can only explain a small share of precautionary savings, which we may define as savings generated by variance in income. Therefore, if we are willing to admit that precautionary savings constitute a sizable share of total savings, other factors should be called for. We present a few examples showing that risk aversion might constitute one such factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Ventura, 2007. "A note on the relevance of prudence in precautionary saving," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(23), pages 1-11.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-07d80007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adam J. Grossberg, 1991. "Personal Saving under Income Uncertainty: A Test of the Intertemporal Substitution Hypothesis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 203-210, Apr-Jun.
    2. Christopher D. Carroll & Andrew A. Samwick, 1998. "How Important Is Precautionary Saving?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 410-419, August.
    3. Irvine, Ian & Wang, Susheng, 2001. "Saving behavior and wealth accumulation in a pure lifecycle model with income uncertainty," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 233-258, February.
    4. Stefan Hochguertel, 2003. "Precautionary motives and portfolio decisions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 61-77.
    5. Kuehlwein, Michael, 1991. "A test for the presence of precautionary saving," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 471-475, December.
    6. Hayne E. Leland, 1968. "Saving and Uncertainty: The Precautionary Demand for Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(3), pages 465-473.
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    Cited by:

    1. Carol Newman & Fiona Wainwright, 2011. "Income Shocks and Household Risk-Coping Strategies: Evidence from Rural Vietnam," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp358, IIIS.
    2. Christian Josef Bauer & Wolfgang Buchholz, 2008. "How Changing Prudence and Risk Aversion Affect Optimal Saving," CESifo Working Paper Series 2438, CESifo.
    3. Ventura, Luigi, 2008. "Risk sharing opportunities and macroeconomic factors in Latin American and Caribbean countries : A consumption insurance assessment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4490, The World Bank.

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    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General

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