Savings and wealth in the UK: evidence from micro-data

<p>The late 1980s saw a dramatic fall in personal saving rates in Britain and the United States which attracted the attention of academics and policymakers alike. The period was also marked by a number of important structural changes, any or all of which could have had an impact on personal saving behaviour. Included among these are systematic changes in the demographic structure of the population, female labour supply, productivity growth, financial liberalisation and the degree of inequality in household incomes. These changes, coupled with the decline in personal saving, led many commentators to pronounce that the 'baby-boom' generation (i.e. those currently middle-aged) were not saving enough for their retirement × a concern heightened by growing fears over the future of the state pension system, given current social and political attitudes. </p>