Determinants of Households’ Savings in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe

This paper uses data from the Euro Survey of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) for ten Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries to analyze the saving behavior of CESEE households between 2010 and 2011. We investigate households’ decisions to save and their subsequent portfolio choices based on the life-cycle hypothesis, i.e. by analyzing sociodemographic determinants of saving, most notably age. Understanding households’ saving behavior is particularly relevant for CESEE countries to properly address public policy challenges related to promoting financial market development and financial stability. Our findings suggest that age as well as education and income drive the propensity to save and reveal that the hump-shaped relationship between age and savings as predicted by the life-cycle hypothesis holds for CESEE. Age also plays a role in households’ portfolio choices, with younger persons having a higher propensity to own life insurance, while older persons are more likely to have savings deposits.