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Households' Saving and Debt in Italy

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  • Tullio Jappelli
  • Immacolata Marino
  • Mario Padula

Abstract

In this paper we review household saving and debt trends in Italy. We summarize the available empirical evidence on Italians' motives to save, relying on macroeconomic indicators and data drawn from the Bank of Italy's Surveys of Household Income and Wealth from 1984 to 2012. The macroeconomic data indicate that households' saving has dropped significantly, although Italy continues to rank above most other countries for saving. Using microeconomic data we examine four indicators of household financial conditions: propensity to save, proportion of households with negative saving, proportion of households with debt, and proportion of households that lack access to formal credit markets. An international comparison shows that the level of debt and default risk among Italian households are relatively low. However, in light of the deep changes made to the Italian pension system, the fall in saving is a concern, particularly in the case of individuals who entered the labor market after the 1995 reform and have experienced the largest decline in pension wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Tullio Jappelli & Immacolata Marino & Mario Padula, 2014. "Households' Saving and Debt in Italy," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2-3, pages 175-202.
    • Handle: RePEc:mul:je8794:doi:10.1429/80192:y:2014:i:2-3:p:175-202
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    Cited by:

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    2. Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2011. "On economic growth and minimum wages," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 59-82, May.
    3. Ngoc Duc Lang & Ha Mai Tran & Giang Tra Nguyen & Duc Hong Vo, 2024. "An Untapped Instrument in the Fight Against Poverty: The Impacts of Financial Literacy on Poverty Worldwide," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 657-695, September.
    4. Luigi Ventura & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2020. "The wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Italy: the importance of bequest motives and precautionary saving," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 575-597, September.
    5. Luca Gori & Piero Manfredi & Simone Marsiglio & Mauro Sodini, 2022. "COVID‐19 epidemic and mitigation policies: Positive and normative analyses in a neoclassical growth model," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(5), pages 968-992, October.
    6. Le Blanc, Julia, 2016. "Household Saving Behaviour in Ireland," Economic Letters 05/EL/16, Central Bank of Ireland.
    7. Giovanni Gallo & Costanza Torricelli & Arthur van Soest, 2016. "Individual heterogeneity and pension choices: How to communicate an effective message?," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0136, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    8. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska, 2014. "The Index of Household Financial Condition, Combining Subjective and Objective Indicators: An Appraisal of Italian Households," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 365-385, August.
    9. Menkhoff, Lukas & Rungruxsirivorn, Ornsiri, 2011. "Do Village Funds Improve Access to Finance? Evidence from Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 110-122, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    household saving; household debt; financial fragility; pension reforms.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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