On Savings and Investment in Physical Assets
In industrial economies, the savings
that households deposit in banks are a source — often the most important one —
of investments in the private sector. While the 1986 National Research Council
review found little evidence to substantiate links between fertility and
national savings rates, later studies document evidence that declining fertility
does indeed stimulate savings.
12 Economists now credit a significant
part of economic growth achieved among the newly industrialized economies of
Asia to wise applications of domestic savings that were generated largely by
households. Though debate continues, the connections between fertility, the
ability of families to save, and the investments that banks make in physical
assets are‹because of the East Asian examples‹more substantially documented than
had been the case in 1986.
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