Savings has traditionally been measured by asking about “account” balances, or in national accounts by comparing incomes to expenditures. But we know that low-income households often save actively. They build up and draw down their funds throughout the year—what Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton termed “high frequency savings”—even if their balances don’t grow. Short-term savings are a key part of the financial lives of low-income households in the US and in developing countries; the challenges they face in building up and effectively using their savings are quite similar as well. This edition of faiVLive—co-presented with the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program—brought together researchers and practitioners to look at how short-term savings work and don’t work, with a particular eye to whether and how savings for low-income households can be boosted.
Featuring Jonathan Morduch, Jessica Goldberg, Jonathan Lee, and Genevieve Melford.
Co-hosted with The Aspen Institute and moderated by Timothy Ogden
