Macroeconomic Experience and Precautionary Savings

Do personal experience of economic fluctuations shape individuals' willingness to save? The experience of a large macroeconomic shock such as the great depression or a war may have a long-lasting effect on precautionary savings. In this project, we investigate whether individuals who live through different macroeconomic histories differ in their attitudes to savings and in their level of savings. We use the LISS household survey from the Netherlands that contains all the information we need: the age of households, their preferences for savings, and their level of savings.