Can Population Aging Explain the Decline of Savings Rate in Japan
利用日本家庭调查微观数据构建与宏观数据一致的储蓄率，发现老龄化趋势难以单独解释储蓄率下降，挑战了生命周期假说。
We have constructed household savings rate data that are consistent with the macro data, or National Accounts, yet are based on the micro data of the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure （NSFIE）. Unlike the official NSFIE data, we calculate the savings rate for all households including the self-employed. In addition, on the consumption side, we address the underreporting problem in large expenditures such as durables, which has been pointed out by previous studies, by exploiting information from the Survey of Household Economy. According to the data constructed here, the decreasing trend in the savings rate can hardly be explained by the aging population alone, although the life-cycle hypothesis predicts that aging should be the main cause of the lower savings rate.