Key economic concepts of saving and investment are defined and discussed in this paper. It is shown that the equation “saving=investment” is a fundamental fallacy of macroeconomics due to a confusion between real and financial variables, and also between stock and flow variables. Economic...

The paper analyses the accounting relationships between the financial and the real economy. It will be shown that accounting can clarify the nature of economic phenomena and be an important building block for economic theory. The paper will argue that there is much confusion about key...

The paper presents a critique of loanable funds theory by using simple accounting relationships. It is shown that many economists identify saving and the credit supply by interpreting the macroeconomic saving-investment identity as a budget constraint. According to that interpretation, more...

This paper re-examines the implications for economic growth from the perspective of a two-sector growth model with separate consumption and capital goods production sectors. The analysis is an extension of traditional approaches limited to a single sector. In light of the 40-year downward trend...

The study investigated the dynamic interaction between savings, investment and economic growth in Nigeria within the period 1981 to 2014, using annual time series data obtained from the World Bank Development Indicator (WDI). The study employed the impulse response function (IRF) and the...

Government deficits financed by domestic borrowing were found to crowd out private borrowing and spending by consumers and businesses, in both recession and non-recession periods. Deficits due to tax cuts had a net negative effect on GDP, because stimulus effects are smaller than the crowd out...

This paper contrasts the orthodox approach with an alternative view on finance, saving, deficits, and liquidity. The conventional view on the cause of the current global financial crisis points first to excessive United States trade deficits that are supposed to have “soaked up” global...

This paper contrasts the orthodox approach with an alternative view on finance, saving, deficits, and liquidity. The conventional view on the cause of the current global financial crisis points first to excessive U.S. trade deficits that are supposed to have “soaked up” global savings....

In response to increasing calls for policies to raise the U.S. saving rate, proposals are once again being offered in Congress to change the tax base from income to consumption. Beyond the important issues of income distribution (that is, outright unfairness) inherent in such a plan, it would...

The corporate sector has turned from a net borrowing position to a net lending position in many advanced countries over the past decades. This phenomenon is rather unusual as the corporate sector had historically borrowed funds from other sectors in the economy. In this paper, we analyze how...