Lennart Berg

Housing and financial wealth, financial deregulation and consumption - the Swedish case

The effects of using wealth disaggregated as housing and net financial wealth are investigated in an error-correction function model. Data for Sweden 1970-92 are used in the analysis. Unit root tests indicate that consumption, income, and wealth are all integrated of order one and that the variables cointegrate if wealth is disaggregated. Financial wealth is crucial in explaining consumption, and wealth in disaggregated form improves the models significantly. Household debt is an important determinant of short-run behavior indicating credit rationing. There is also evidence that the observed dramatic increase in savings is a consequence of the recent tax reform. Copyright 1995 by The editors of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Consumer Confidence and Consumption in Sweden

The role of confidence indices in explaining consumption growth in Sweden during the period 1975-94 is analysed in this paper. We first analysed which variables influence the levels of the confiden ...

The Role of Demographic Factors as a Determinant of Savings in Sweden

Although this paper focuses attention on the impact of demographic forces on savings, it also explores the influence of a range of other factors. We are particularly concerned with the role of ATP, the Swedish supplementary pension plan, and retirement age. Perhaps our most interesting findings are that ATP does not appear to depress personal savings, wealth is accumulated until some time after 65, the current qualifying age for social security, and that the part played by demographic changes in the evolution of savings behaviour in Sweden is no more than peripheral.

Age Distribution, Saving and Consumption in Sweden

This paper focuses on an empirical analysis of the dependency between age structure and aggregate consumption and the composition of aggregate savings. In a long-run consumption function of life cycle type, different demographic variables have a conclusive, statistically significant effect. In investigating the link between demographic variables and the composition of aggregate savings, a simple simultaneous model is used, and a saving function and a house price equation are estimated. The result even here is that age composition matters for house price and savings. This conclusion is also made visible by a simulation experiment. Finally is the model used to ascertain the effect on the recent Swedish tax reform on savings.