Do Germans Save to Leave an Estate? An Examination of the Bequest Motive

I investigate whether a bequest motive for savings influences the post-retirement wealth trajectories of German households. Two measures of the bequest motive are studied: the existence of children as the main group of potential heirs and the respondents' declared intention to bequeath. While having children has no significant impact on households' wealth trajectories, stated bequest intentions are associated with considerable heterogeneity in wealth holdings. The main conclusion from this study is that both the pure life-cycle model and the life-cycle model with bequest motives provide a valid basis for a theory of household wealth accumulation once the heterogeneity of preferences is acknowledged.
JEL classification : D 91; J 14     

Do homeowners achieve more household wealth in the long run?

Despite the public’s faith in homeownership as a vehicle for wealth creation, there are surprisingly few empirical studies of the independent impact of homeownership and its duration on household wealth accumulation. This paper provides the first empirical evidence that homeownership, after controlling for other drivers of wealth accumulation, is positively and significantly associated with wealth accumulation over time. Using the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, it examines the influence of housing tenure choices between 1989 and 2001 on household net wealth levels in 2001 after controlling for initial wealth in 1989, location, income, education, and other family and personal characteristics that might influence the rate of wealth accumulation. Importantly, the models used also control for the tendency of households to accumulate wealth between 1984 and 1989 (five years prior to the studied period). This approach is used to address the possibility that an unobserved variable—the propensity to save or accumulate wealth—may be associated with both the probability and duration of homeownership and the rate of wealth accumulation. All else equal, those who owned homes and owned for longer periods of time had significantly higher household net wealth by 2001. These results are compelling because house price appreciation over the period was near its long-run average while stock gains were above and real rent increases below their long-run averages. Hence, the findings are suggestive of a positive influence of ownership over long periods on net wealth, even during a period when alternative investments produced higher than normal returns and rents grew slowly. This is especially important because the overwhelmingly majority of households do not sell their homes shortly after buying them. In our sample, those who became owners typically owned for 7 years. Furthermore, most households that bought during a period of declining real home values in the early 1990s continued to own their homes for at least eight years and came out well ahead of those who did not own.     

移动支付对中国家庭储蓄率的影响

中国的高储蓄问题由来已久,降低家庭储蓄率、提高消费有助于形成以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局。本文基于2017年和2019年中国家庭金融调查(CHFS)数据,实证研究了移动支付对中国家庭储蓄率的影响。结果表明,移动支付显著降低了家庭储蓄率。进一步研究发现,缓解流动性约束、信贷约束和扩大社会网络是移动支付降低家庭储蓄率的主要途径。此外,移动支付显著降低家庭为应对健康风险、医疗风险、失业风险、收入风险等不确定性而进行的预防性储蓄。地区异质性分析显示,移动支付对家庭储蓄率的影响在西部地区、四五线城市、农村地区更大。家庭特征异质性分析显示,移动支付对家庭储蓄率的影响在农业户口家庭、中低收入家庭、低受教育水平家庭中效果更加突出。本文研究为理解中国高储蓄问题提供了新的视角,可为制定相关政策提供参考依据。     

商业银行流动性过剩问题的再认识

最近,学术界对商业银行流动性问题议论颇多,议论的焦点是银行的流动性过剩及由此引发的种种后果.本文基于既往研究中值得深思的四个问题,从商业银行超额储备构成出发对流动性过剩的内涵、判断标准及影响因素进行界定,以商业银行保持流动性成因的微观视角管窥我国商业银行流动性过剩问题.在此基础上,本文认为商业银行流动性过剩问题的解决与资本市场的发展并无必然的直接联系,并针对流动性过剩问题的不同形成原因提出了相应的几点看法.     

Does bank ownership affect lending behavior? Evidence from the Euro area

We analyze the differences in lending policies across banks characterized by different types of ownership, using micro-level data on Euro area banks during the period 1999–2011 to detect possible variations in bank lending supply responses to changes in monetary policy. Our results identify a general difference between stakeholder and shareholder banks: following a monetary policy contraction, stakeholder banks decrease their loan supply to a lesser extent than shareholder banks. A detailed analysis of the effect among stakeholder banks reveals that cooperative banks continued to smooth the impact of tighter monetary policy on their lending during the crisis period (2008–2011), whereas savings banks did not. Stakeholder banks’ propensity to smooth their lending cycles suggests that their presence in the economy has the potential to reduce credit supply volatility.     

Bringing back Thrift Week: Neo-liberalism and the rediscovery of thrift

The paper examines and compares the movements for promoting working-class savings in the modern USA and in Great Britain in the 19th century. It explores the use of savings as a technology for managing individuals’ behaviour and motives and the nature of the government objectives which are served by these parallel projects.     

中国邮储银行大连分行网点转型下客户服务模式创新研究

随着社会大众对金融服务的要求不断增多,银行网点转型已经成为一个必然趋势。信息时代背景下,银行网点的转型大多向智能化的方向转变,而随着网点转型,其客户服务模式也在不断创新。论文以邮储银行大连分行为例,对银行网点智能化转型的影响进行了分析,探究了邮储银行大连分行网点智能化转型存在的问题,并且提出了相关的转型建议,最后对邮储银行大连分行智能化网点转型下客户服务模式的创新情况进行了研究,希望能够在银行网点智能化转型的背景下,促进其客户服务水平的不断提升。     

HOW COOPERATIVE ARE SAVINGS AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?: AN ANALYSIS OF DATASETS FROM UGANDA

Building successful savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) that actually embody the cooperative principles is a challenge to development agencies. Although SACCOs form the majority of microfinance providers in many developing countries, the most recent literature on microfinance governance and performance has given little reference to the longstanding body of relevant cooperative literature. SACCO representation in microfinance datasets is biased. Drawing on so‐far unexploited datasets of Ugandan SACCOs and savings groups, this paper empirically analyses policy debate regarding SACCO‐ and savings group regulation. The findings point to the relevance of practically implementing the principle of ‘cooperation between cooperatives’ to ensure effective governance at SACCO level. Moreover, the paper introduces two new measures, based on members' savings and shares, which could become useful tools to track the application of cooperative principles in developing countries, and hence improve evidence‐based policy‐making for SACCOs.     

对城中村改造推动银行储蓄存款增长的意义的思考——以陕西省西安市为例

城中村改造关于改造资金的来源问题研究者们已经进行了大量的研究,目前比较可行的办法就是信托融资模式,接着就是城中村改造后农民拿到大量的赔偿款后的理财问题确实是很多银行关注的重点。本文从对西安市城中村改造的一些政策进行了分析,从而引出农民将得到巨额的赔偿,提出了西安市各大银行应该积极吸纳改造城中村农民的存款,这对推动银行储蓄存款的增长有着很大的意义。     

中国合会起源之考辨

合会是一种古老的民间信用互助形式,在我国有着悠久的历史,然而合会究竟起源于何时至今尚无定论。关于合会的起源,民间有庞公创始说、竹林七贤遗传说、青苗法演变说,学者认为起源于唐宋或隋朝等。从目前有据可考的史料记载看,我国合会雏形于汉代,成型于唐代,初步发展于宋代。