COMMENTS ON ALBERT ANDO'S “DEMOGRAPHY AND AGGREGATE SAVING”

This is a highly interesting paper on a very important subject, i.e., it endeavors to explore the perennial mystery of the high Japanese saving rate, as compared to the US saving rate. What distinguishes it from other analyses on this subject, which has persistently puzzled scholars and policy makers, is that it is carried out at the micro level, linking demographic phenomena and saving behavior. Professor Ando digs below the surface of the Modigliani life cycle analysis to trace the impact of a complex set of cultural and institutional factors on the changing composition and behavior of families over their life cycle, for an explanation of the particular savings patterns we observe. This constitutes an unusually rich analysis and the author is a master craftsman with strong credentials in this particular field of endeavor…