IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joecag/v34y2026ics2212828x26000083.html

The impact of population aging on the household saving rate: the case of Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Horioka, Charles Yuji

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of the age structure of the population on the household saving rate using time-series data for Japan for the 1955–2019 period. It finds that there is a cointegrating relationship between Japan’s household saving rate and her dependency ratio (the ratio of the dependent population to the working-age population) and that the latter has a negative and statistically significant impact on the former. This implies that the life-cycle model applies in the case of Japan, that trends over time in the age structure of Japan’s population can largely explain trends over time in Japan’s household saving rate, that the downward trend in Japan’s household saving rate since the mid-1970s can largely be explained by the aging of her population, and that further population aging will lead to further declines in Japan’s household saving rate, most likely into negative territory, in future years.

Suggested Citation

  • Horioka, Charles Yuji, 2026. "The impact of population aging on the household saving rate: the case of Japan," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:34:y:2026:i:c:s2212828x26000083
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2026.100625
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X26000083
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeoa.2026.100625?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2024. "Household Saving in Japan: The Past, Present, and Future," NBER Working Papers 33181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2026. "The Past and Future of Japan's Household Saving Rate (in Japanese: 「日本の家計貯蓄率の過去と将来」)," ISER Discussion Paper 1305, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

    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:eee:joecag:v:34:y:2026:i:c:s2212828x26000083. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-the-economics-of-ageing .

    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.