IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/nbr/nberch/11344.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

IRAs and Saving

In: The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation

Author

Listed:
  • Steven F. Venti
  • David A. Wise

Abstract

Increasing current Individual Retirement Account (IRA) limits would lead to substantial increases in tax-deferred saving according to evidence in the paper, based on the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances. For example, the recentTreasury Plan would increase IRA Contributions by about 30 percent. The primary focus of the paper, however, is the effect of limit increases on othersaving. How much of the IRA increase would be offset by reduction in non-tax-deferred saving? The weight of the evidence suggests that very little of the increase would be offset by reduction in other financial assets,possibly 10 to 20 percent. The estimates suggest that 45 to 55 percent of the IRA increase would be funded by reduction in expenditure for other goods and services, and about 35 percent by reduced taxes. The analysis rests on a savings decision structure recognizing the constraint that the IRA limit places on the allocation of current income; it is a constrained optimization model with the IRA limit the principle constraint. The evidence also suggests substantial variation in saving behavior among segments of the population. In addition, it appears that IRAs do not serve as a substitute fo rprivate pension plans. Thus the legislative goal of disproportionately increasing retirement saving among persons without pension plans is apparently not being realized. But the more general goal of increasing general saving is.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:11344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c11344.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Poterba & Julio J. Rotemberg, 1986. "Money in the Utility Function: An Empirical Implementation," Working papers 408, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    2. Fischer, Stanley, 1979. "Capital Accumulation on the Transition Path in a Monetary Optimizing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(6), pages 1433-1439, November.
    3. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1984. "Multiple Stable Equilibria in an Optimizing Perfect-Foresight Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 223-228, January.
    4. Hausman, Jerry & Ruud, Paul, 1984. "Family Labor Supply with Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 242-248, May.
    5. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1988. "The Determinants of IRA Contributions and the Effect of Limit Changes," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions in the U.S. Economy, pages 9-52, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Maurice Obstfeld, 1985. "The Capital Inflows Problem Revisited: A Stylized Model of Southern Cone Disinflation," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 605-625.
    7. B. Douglas Bernheim, 1987. "Dissaving after Retirement: Testing the Pure Life Cycle Hypothesis," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 237-280, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Calvo, Guillermo A, 1979. "On Models of Money and Perfect Foresight," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 20(1), pages 83-103, February.
    9. Diamond, P. A. & Hausman, J. A., 1984. "Individual retirement and savings behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 81-114.
    10. Miguel Sidrauski, 1967. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75, pages 796-796.
    11. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1986. "Tax-Deferred Accounts, Constrained Choice and Estimation of Individual Saving," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 579-601.
    12. Michael D. Hurd & John B. Shoven, 1985. "The Distributional Impact of Social Security," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice, pages 193-222, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Blackorby, Charles & Boyce, Richard & Russell, R Robert, 1978. "Estimation of Demand Systems Generated by the Gorman Polar Form: A Generalization of the S-Branch Utility Tree," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(2), pages 345-363, March.
    14. Deaton, Angus & Meullbauer, John, 1981. "Functional Forms for Labor Supply and Commodity Demands with and without Quantity Restrictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1521-1532, November.
    15. Brown, Murray & Heien, Dale M, 1972. "The S-Branch Utility Tree: A Generalization of the Linear Expenditure System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 40(4), pages 737-747, July.
    16. Mervyn A. King & Jonathan I. Leape, 1984. "Wealth and Portfolio Composition: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 1468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1990. "Have IRAs Increased U. S. Saving?: Evidence from Consumer Expenditure Surveys," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 105(3), pages 661-698.
    2. James M. Poterba & Julio J. Rotemberg, 1986. "Money in the Utility Function: An Empirical Implementation," NBER Working Papers 1796, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Tom Kompas & Omar Abdel-Razeq, 2001. "A Simple Monetary Growth Model with Variable Rates of Time Preference," International and Development Economics Working Papers idec01-10, International and Development Economics.
    4. 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.
    5. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1989. "Complicated Topological Structure of the Set of Equilibrium Prices," Discussion Papers 826, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    6. Zhao, Junzhu, 2023. "Wealth in utility, the Taylor principle and determinacy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. AKITOBY, Bernardin, 1997. "Rigidité normale, dévaluation et équilibre général intertemporel," Cahiers de recherche 9708, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
    8. Françoise Charpin, 1992. "La détention de monnaie dans la théorie du cycle de vie," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 43(3), pages 419-444.
    9. Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1988. "Intergenerational Transfers and Savings," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 41-58, Spring.
    10. Rulof Petrus Burger & Lodewicus Charl Coetzee & Carl Friedrich Kreuser & Neil Andrew Rankin, 2017. "Income and Price Elasticities of Demand in South Africa: An Application of the Linear Expenditure System," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 85(4), pages 491-514, December.
    11. William M. Gentry & R. Glenn Hubbard, 2000. "Entrepreneurship and Household Saving," NBER Working Papers 7894, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Arman Mansoorian & Leo Michelis, 2005. "Money, capital, and real liquidity effects with habit formation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 430-453, May.
    13. Miao, Jianjun & Xie, Danyang, 2013. "Economic growth under money illusion," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 84-103.
    14. Gylfason, Thorvaldur, 1998. "Output gains from economic stabilization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 81-96, June.
    15. Stefan Baumgärtner & Moritz A. Drupp & Martin F. Quaas, 2017. "Subsistence, Substitutability and Sustainability in Consumption," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(1), pages 47-66, May.
    16. Mansoorian, Arman & Michelis, Leo, 2010. "Monetary policy in a small open economy with durable goods and differing cash-in-advance constraints," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 246-248, May.
    17. Petrucci, Alberto, 1997. "Money, Labour Supply and Growth in a Liquidity Costs Economy," Discussion Papers 9707, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    18. Alogoskoufis, G.S. & van der Ploeg, F., 1991. "Money and growth revisited," Discussion Paper 1991-9, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    19. Akhand Akhtar Hossain, 2009. "Central Banking and Monetary Policy in the Asia-Pacific," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12777.
    20. Tian, Guoqiang & Chipman, John S., 1989. "A Class of Dynamic Demand Systems," MPRA Paper 41387, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:nbr:nberch:11344. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.