HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS AND DEBTS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE NORDIC COUNTRIES

The paper discusses the development of savings and household debt in the Nordic countries during the last two decades. The main conclusion is that the timing of political reforms in the 1980s and 1990s was fundamental for the development of consumption and household savings. In general, financial deregulation took place before tax reforms and lifting of foreign exchange controls. The wrong timing of these reforms resulted in households accumulating high debt burdens, which in turn led to a deep and longer recession or process of debt deflation than might otherwise have occurred. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.