Saving for development : how Latin America and the Caribbean can save more and better /
Inter-American Development Bank.author.
Cavallo, Eduardo.editor.
Serebrisky, Tomás.editor.
Inter-American Development Bank.
Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live productive and fulfilling lives, and make the most of their retirement years. Firms must save to grow their enterprises, employ more workers in better jobs, and produce quality goods. Governments must save to build the infrastructure required by a productive economy, provide quality services to their citizens, and assure their senior citizens a dignified, worry-free retirement. In short, countries must save not for the proverbial rainy day, but for a sunny day - a time when everyone can bask in the benefits of growth, prosperity, and well-being.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live productive and fulfilling lives, and make the most of their retirement years. Firms must save to grow their enterprises, employ more workers in better jobs, and produce quality goods. Governments must save to build the infrastructure required by a productive economy, provide quality services to their citizens, and assure their senior citizens a dignified, worry-free retirement. In short, countries must save not for the proverbial rainy day, but for a sunny day - a time when everyone can bask in the benefits of growth, prosperity, and well-being.
Mode of access: internet via World Wide Web.
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
Intro -- Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- List of Boxes -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- 1 Saving for a Sunny Day -- Savings: The Sum of its Parts -- Why Care about National Saving? -- Sharing the Blame for Low Saving -- How to Promote Saving for Development -- Tackle the pension problem -- Focus on infrastructure and capital spending -- Target tax policy better -- Promote household saving and create a savings culture -- Improve productivity growth -- Fix the financial system -- The Many Faces of Saving -- A Policy Agenda for the Future -- Notes -- 2 The State of Saving in Latin America and the Caribbean -- National Saving Rates: Comparatively Low -- The Private Sector: Taking the Lead -- Foreign Savings: A Secondary Actor -- Businesses: The Biggest Savers-Worldwide -- Farewell to the Demographic Dividend -- Too Old to Save? -- Higher Income, Greater Saving -- Lower-Income Savers: Little to Show for their Efforts -- The Bottom Line -- Notes -- 3 Financial Systems to Make Savings Count -- In Financial Systems, Small Is Not Beautiful -- Formal vs. Informal Saving: Quality Counts -- Accounting for the Unbanked -- The Link between Financial Access and Savings: The Case of Mexico -- The Missing Link -- Notes -- 4 More and Better Saving for Productive Investment -- Investment and National Saving: Low, Lower, Lowest -- Financing Investment: No Place Like Home -- For Policy, Which Comes First: Saving or Investment? -- Investment in Infrastructure: First among Equals? -- A Catalyst for Productivity and Growth -- Public or Private Investment: Both Is Best -- The Other Half -- Understanding the Infrastructure Financing Market -- Debt Stands Out -- Infrastructure as an Asset Class -- Institutional Investors: An Untapped Source of Financing -- Building a Better Investment Strategy -- Notes -- 5 Saving for Stability.
Foreign Financing: A Different Animal -- Risky Business: Absorbing Foreign Saving -- Not All Foreign Saving Is Created Equal -- Different Risks for Different Financial Flows -- Financial Integration Is No Cure -- Safety First -- Notes -- 6 Running Out of Time: The Demographics of Saving -- More Elderly with More Needs -- Facing the Challenge: More and Better Savings -- Fulfilling Promises -- Saving for the Future -- More-and Better-Savings to Enhance Growth -- How Is the Region Preparing for the Future? -- Pension Systems: Not an Option Today -- Plan B: Household Savings in Other Assets -- The Last Resort: Taking Care of Grandma -- Act Today, for a Better Tomorrow -- Notes -- 7 Saving for the Future: Pension Systems -- Newer Systems for Older Populations -- PAYG/Defined-Benefit Systems: Promises, Promises -- Sustainability -- Adequacy and Redistribution -- Institutional Arrangements -- Recommendations -- Defined Contribution Systems: A Work in Progress -- Transition Costs -- Investments, Returns, and Costs -- Retirement Products and Insurance Arrangements -- Financial Literacy, Legitimacy, and Confidence -- Appropriate Regulation and Supervision -- Recommendations -- When All Else Fails: Noncontributory Pensions -- Recommendations -- Pensions Count -- Notes -- 8 A Better Way for Government to Save -- Current vs. Capital Expenditures: Fix the Mix -- Efficiency: A Path to Saving -- Energy -- Social Programs -- Tax Expenditures -- Education and Health -- Education -- Health -- It All Adds Up -- Saving, from the Top Down -- Notes -- 9 Saving Begins at Home -- Constraints to Saving -- Too Hard to Save Formally? -- In the Hearts and Minds of Savers -- Family and Friends First -- A Behavioral Economics Tale -- The Penchant for Instant Gratification -- Inertia and Limited Attention: Not All Bad -- Policy Recommendations: What Really Counts.
Product Innovation -- Keep It Simple -- Tackle Behavioral Biases -- Incorporate Technology -- Keep Testing -- Bridging the Gap between Informal and Formal Mechanisms -- Getting an Early Start -- Redefining Financial Inclusion -- Notes -- 10 Firm Productivity as an Engine of Saving -- From Japan to the World: The Empirical Link between TFP and Savings -- Incentives to Save -- Quantifying the Link from Productivity to Saving -- The Fine Print -- Zooming in on Firms' Saving Decisions -- Firm Saving: A Way Out for Productive Firms -- A Productive Approach to Policy -- Notes -- 11 Breaking the Vicious Circle: Financial Policies for High-Quality Saving -- Toward a Well-Oiled Financial Machine -- Broadening the Base -- Reducing Service Costs -- Keeping it Simple -- Fostering a Culture of Saving -- Banking-The Old Fashioned Way -- More than Brick-and-Mortar Banking -- Dialing up Technology -- Financial Saving beyond Banking -- Creating a Virtuous Circle -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Development economics.
Economic policy.
Regional economics.
Spatial economics.
Also available in print form.

Open Access