Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This study investigates empirically why Japan's household savings rate fell in the 1990s. We constructed an economic model consisting of two types of household: unconstrained life cycle households and liquidity-constrained households. Unconstrained households generally save, but liquidity-constrained households consume all of their disposable income. We found that the proportion of liquidity-constrained households increased sharply in the late 1990s, which led to a decline in Japan's household savings rate. Our simulation analysis demonstrates that if the proportion of liquidity-constrained households in the 1990s had stayed at the level as that of the late 1980s, the household savings rate would have increased by four% points in 2001 and 2002.