49 research outputs found

    Methodological aspects of the SAVE data set

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    This paper describes the general design of the SAVE survey: the design of the questionnaire, inter-viewer and interviewee motivation, and the sampling designs of the various subsamples collected in 2001 and 2003. It discusses the representativeness of the data, explains the construction of weights, and provides probit regressions to analyse potential selectivity problems. The paper finishes by discussing implications for the use of the SAVE data in various estimation procedures.

    Precautionary saving and old-age provisions: Do subjective saving motive measures work?

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    literature on precautionary saving provides contradictory views on the importance of precautionary saving. The SAVE data offer the possibility to generate some of the frequently used instruments known from the literature in order to measure the extent of precautionary savings. This paper compares the influence of these instruments on long-run and short-run saving measures. In addition, SAVE contains information on a broad range of saving motives. This paper uses these short-run and long-run savings motives to describe differences in savings, saving rates and wealth accumulation.

    Imputing total expenditures from a non-exhaustive

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    General purpose surveys typically refrain from using an exhaustive list of consumption expenditure items since the gain of more precise data on consumption is usually more than offset by the large increase in interview time and respondent effort which reduces response willingness. An alter¬native is to ask respondents a non-exhaustive list of consumption expenditure items and use those items to impute total consumption by the use of an external data source. This paper uses the SAVE (internal) and EVS (external) data sets to apply such a procedure.

    Methodological aspects of the SAVE data set

    Get PDF
    This paper describes the general design of the SAVE survey: the design of the questionnaire, inter-viewer and interviewee motivation, and the sampling designs of the various subsamples collected in 2001 and 2003. It discusses the representativeness of the data, explains the construction of weights, and provides probit regressions to analyze potential selectivity problems. The paper finishes by discussing implications for the use of the SAVE data in various estimation procedures.

    Measures for savings and saving rates in the German SAVE data set

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    Saving is frequently measured using a one-shot question for total annual saving during the preceding year. This type of one-shot recall question might cause severe measurement errors since saving is a complicated concept which consists of various components, many of which respondents might not be fully aware of. This paper uses the SAVE data to analyze potential errors generated by this kind of questioning and provides remedies in order to construct the most of reliable saving measure given the information at hand.

    Measures for savings and saving rates in the German SAVE data set

    Get PDF
    Saving is frequently measured using a one-shot question for total annual saving during the preceding year. This type of one-shot recall question might cause severe measurement errors since saving is a complicated concept which consists of various components, many of which respondents might not be fully aware of. This paper uses the SAVE data to analyze potential errors generated by this kind of questioning and provides remedies in order to construct the most of reliable saving measure given the information at hand.

    Item nonresponse to financial questions in household surveys: An experimental study of interviewer and mode effects

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    We analyze nonresponse to questions on financial items such as income and asset holdings in the SAVE survey, exploiting a controlled field experiment. As part of the SAVE study, a representative survey conducted in Germany in 2001, questions on household income and financial assets were administered using different interview modes (personal interview vs. drop-off questionnaire). The data also allow investigating the influence of interviewer characteristics on nonresponse. Our results are in line with predictions derived from models of survey response behavior that have been developed in survey research and social psychology.

    Item nonresponse to financial questions in household surveys: An experimental study of interviewer and mode effects

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    We analyze nonresponse to questions on financial items such as income and asset holdings in household surveys using data from a controlled field experiment. As part of the SAVE study, a representative survey conducted in Germany in 2001, questions on household income and financial assets were administered using different modes (personal interview vs. drop-off questionnaire). The data also allow to investigate the influence of interviewer characteristics on nonresponse. Our results are in line with predictions derived from models of survey response behavior that have been developed in survey research and social psychology.

    Precautionary saving and old-age provisions : Do subjective saving motive measures work?

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    The literature on precautionary saving provides contradictory views on the importance of precautionary saving. The SAVE data offer the possibility to generate some of the frequently used instruments known from the literature in order to measure the extent of precautionary savings. This paper compares the influence of these instruments on long-run and short-run saving measures. In addition, SAVE contains information on a broad range of saving motives. This paper uses these short-run and long-run savings motives to describe differences in savings, saving rates and wealth accumulation

    Household Saving in Germany: Results of the first SAVE study

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    Germany is an interesting country to study saving among older households since nearly everyone - whether in the middle income bracket or richer - saves substantial amounts in old age. Only households in the lowest quarter of the income distribution spend more between the ages of 60 and 75 than they save. Our paper exploits newly collected data, the first wave of the so-called SAVE panel, specifically collected to understand economic, psychological and sociological determinants of saving. Overall, we find extraordinarily stable savings patterns. More than 40% of German households save regularly a fixed amount. About 25% of German households plan their savings and have a clearly defined savings target in mind. Most of German household saving is in the form of contractual saving, such as saving plans, whole life insurance and building society contracts. This makes the flow of saving rather unresponsive to economic fluctuations, such as income shocks. Most households prefer to cut consumption if ends do not meet. In particular the elderly do not like to use credit cards, and they eschew debt. We suspect large cohort differences and will study them once further waves of the SAVE panel will become available.
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