DIA 2016: Chapter 9: Saving Begins At Home (Tables and Figures)

Date
Jun 2016
Ultimately, Latin America’s low saving rate can be traced back to individual households throughout the region. Why do they—or do they not—save and how? Answering this question is not an easy task. Understanding how people make their saving decisions demands more than an analysis of how the financial system interacts with its individual savers. It requires a closer look into their communities, their homes—and even their minds.Saving rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are low compared to other regions (Chapter 2). This chapter zooms in on households to find out why people in the region save so little. It evaluates some of the difficulties that households in the region encounter when they try to save, analyzes the effects of these constraints on their financial portfolios, and identifies strategies that may boost household saving rates.