The rate of gross savings: theory and practice

Abstract

Scientific justification of the rate of gross savings is one of the key issues in the models of economic growth and a fundamental parameter of economic architectonics in the context of long-term dynamics of growth and structure of total demand. The article aims at demonstrating the genesis of the theory of the rate of gross savings beginning from the classics of political economy to theoretical justifications of the endogenization of the rate of savings in the models of economic growth as well as a detailed consideration of the components of gross savings with the analysis of the factors affecting its level (based on statistical data). It is exactly the empirical analysis that allows testing the validity of theoretical concepts and determining the correctness of the theorists' conclusions. The author shows a great gap between the classical view of the savings rate as a result of the action of natural law, which leads to self-regulation of the parameters of production reproduction, on the one hand, and the purely rational views shaped during the formation and development of the theory and models of economic growth, on the other. Empirical studies have shown that the rate of savings and the rate of capital ac-cumulation are different in the economies of different countries and depend on: the degree of government intervention in the distribution of gross disposable income between institutional sectors and in the structure of households by income level, the level of public social transfers, the depth of income misbalances and expenditure of the institutional sectors and, accordingly, their net borrowing and accumulated debt, as well as on the current phase of the economic cycle and quality of the investment environment. The practical relevance of the study is important to substantiate fiscal policy, especially regarding its impact on the level of gross savings in the non-financial corporations and government sectors, as well as the level of public social and capital expenditures.