Have IRAs Increased U. S. Saving?: Evidence from Consumer Expenditure Surveys

The vast majority of Individual Retirement Account contributions represent net new saving, based on evidence from the quarterly Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES). The results are based on analysis of the relationship between IRA contributions and other financial asset saving. The data show almost n...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Quarterly journal of economics 1990-08, Vol.105 (3), p.661-698
Main Authors: Venti, Steven F., Wise, David A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asset income
Consumer spending
Consumer surveys
Economic models
Effects
Expenditures
Financial assets
Income estimates
Income taxes
Individual retirement accounts
IRA
Liquid assets
Mathematical independent variables
Pensions
Personal finance
Polls & surveys
Quarterly estimates
Savings
Savings accounts
Statistical analysis
Studies
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The vast majority of Individual Retirement Account contributions represent net new saving, based on evidence from the quarterly Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES). The results are based on analysis of the relationship between IRA contributions and other financial asset saving. The data show almost no substitution of IRAs for other saving. Estimates are based on a flexible constrained optimization model, with the IRA limit the principal constraint. The implications of this model for saving in the absence of the IRA option match very closely the actual non-IRA financial asset saving behavior prior to 1982. IRA saving does not show up as other financial asset saving in the pre-IRA period.
ISSN:0033-5533
1531-4650
DOI:10.2307/2937894