This paper reviews a number of issues relating to the policy goal of increasing national savings. The first section considers the measurement and definition of national savings. Comparisons of current US savings rates with those of other countries and with the past US experience are presented....

This paper reviews theoretical argumrents and empirical evidence regarding the interest elasticity of savings. It concludes that there are strong theoretical reasons to expect an increase in after tax rates of return to increase private savings. Moreover, the empirical rrethods used in most...

The theoretical and empirical results in this paper make a strong prima facie case for the proposition that increases in the after tax rate of return caused by tax policy are likely to bring forth significant increases in saving. Theoretical analysis using a variety of standard models tends to...

This paper examines the recent United States experience with sustained budget deficits and concludes that the events of the last five years cast significant doubt on the proposition that the timing of taxes does not affect national savings. Rather than raising private saving, the recent deficits...

The recent European experience of high persistent unemployment has led to the development of theories of unemployment hysteresis embodying the idea that the equilibrium unemployment rate depends on the history of the actual unemployment rate. This paper summarizes two directions of research on...

European unemployment is widely regarded as a problem of excessive real wages. This view as it is usually expressed carries the disturbing implication that there is a sharp conflict between the interests of those currently employed and the unemployed because it suggests that increases in...