IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rba/rbardp/rdp9112.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of Superannuation in the Financial Sector and in Aggregate Saving: A Review of Recent Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Malcolm Edey

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

  • Robin Foster

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

  • Ian Macfarlane

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Abstract

Assets with superannuation funds represented the fastest growing of the major components of household wealth during the 1980s. This paper reviews the causes of that growth, and its effects on private saving and on the pattern of financial intermediation. It is found that the growth of superannuation funds during this period was mainly a result of the funds’ high earnings rates; there was relatively little change in the net rate of new contributions by members. This fact makes it hard to argue that growth of the superannuation sector came at the expense of other types of financial intermediaries. The relative stability of members’ contributions also helps to explain why superannuation has not yet had a noticeable effect on the level of private saving.

Suggested Citation

  • Malcolm Edey & Robin Foster & Ian Macfarlane, 1991. "The Role of Superannuation in the Financial Sector and in Aggregate Saving: A Review of Recent Trends," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9112, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp9112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/1991/pdf/rdp9112.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Summers, Lawrence H, 1981. "Capital Taxation and Accumulation in a Life Cycle Growth Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 533-544, September.
    2. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1990. "Have IRAs Increased U. S. Saving?: Evidence from Consumer Expenditure Surveys," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 661-698.
    3. Ostroy, Joseph M. & Starr, Ross M., 1990. "The transactions role of money," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 3-62, Elsevier.
    4. Peter J. Stemp, 1988. "Tax Concessions For Occupational Superannuation: Implications For Aggregate Saving," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 7(2), pages 33-53, June.
    5. Jane G. Gravelle, 1991. "Do Individual Retirement Accounts Increase Savings?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 133-148, Spring.
    6. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1987. "IRAs and Saving," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation, pages 7-52, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ric Battellino & Nola McMillan, 1989. "Changes in the Behaviour of Banks and Their Implications for Financial Aggregates," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp8904, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    8. Eisner, Robert, 1988. "Extended Accounts for National Income and Product," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 1611-1684, December.
    9. Malcolm Edey & Mark Britten-Jones, 1990. "Saving and Investment in the 1980s," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9004, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    10. Jeffrey Carmichael & Kathleen Plowman, 1985. "Income Provision in Old Age," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 18(3), pages 130-144, September.
    11. A. W. Dilnot, 1990. "The Distribution and Composition of Personal Sector Wealth in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 23(1), pages 33-40, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Malcolm Edey & John Simon, 1996. "Australia's Retirement Income System: Implications for Saving and Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 5799, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Vince FitzGerald, 1996. "Public Policy and National Saving," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 3-16.
    3. Warren Tease & Jenny Wilkinson, 1993. "The Provision of Financial Services – Trends, Prospects and Implications," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9315, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    4. Malcolm Edey & Brian Gray, 1996. "The Evolving Structure of the Australian Financial System," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9605, Reserve Bank of Australia.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beverly, Sondra G. & Sherraden, Michael, 1999. "Institutional determinants of saving: implications for low-income households and public policy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 457-473.
    2. Bernheim, B. Douglas, 2002. "Taxation and saving," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 18, pages 1173-1249, Elsevier.
    3. Jonathan Skinner, 1991. "Individual Retirement Accounts: A Review of the Evidence," NBER Working Papers 3938, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. William M. Gentry & Joseph Milano, 1998. "Taxes and Investment in Annuities," NBER Working Papers 6525, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. B. Douglas Bernheim & John Karl Scholz, 1993. "Private Saving and Public Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 7, pages 73-110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Effects of Tax-Based Saving Incentives On Saving and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 5759, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. John Burbidge & James B. Davies, 1994. "Government Incentives and Household Saving in Canada," NBER Chapters, in: Public Policies and Household Saving, pages 19-56, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. R. Glenn Hubbard & Jonathan S. Skinner, 1996. "Assessing the Effectiveness of Saving Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 73-90, Fall.
    9. Jonathan Skinner & Daniel Feenberg, 1990. "The Impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act on Personal Saving," NBER Working Papers 3257, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-138, Fall.
    11. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1996. "How Retirement Saving Programs Increase Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 91-112, Fall.
    12. Hubbard, R. Glenn & Skinner, Jonathan & Zeldes, Stephen P., 1994. "The importance of precautionary motives in explaining individual and aggregate saving," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 59-125, June.
    13. Bassett, William F. & Fleming, Michael J. & Rodrigues, Anthony P., 1998. "How Workers Use 401(K) Plans: The Participation, Contribution, and Withdrawal Decisions," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 51(2), pages 263-289, June.
    14. Robin Boadway & David Wildasin, 1994. "Taxation and savings: a survey," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 19-63, August.
    15. Milligan, Kevin, 2003. "How do contribution limits affect contributions to tax-preferred savings accounts?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 253-281, February.
    16. Jack M. Mintz, 2001. "Taxing Future Consumption," The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, in: Patrick Grady & Andrew Sharpe (ed.),The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, pages 79-94, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    17. Huizinga, H.P., 1993. "The welfare effects of individual retirement accounts (Revised version)," Other publications TiSEM 2de13b34-b2c5-41cd-9d70-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Martin Feldstein, 1995. "The Effects of Tax-Based Saving Incentives on Government Revenue and National Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 475-494.
    19. Canavese, Alfredo Juan, 1993. "Indización de activos financieros: la experiencia argentina," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 30217, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    20. M. Akbar Akhtar & Ethan S. Harris, 1992. "The supply-side consequences of U.S. fiscal policy in the 1980s," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 17(Spr), pages 1-20.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp9112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paula Drew (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rbagvau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.