And more between risings costs and stagnant income. Its pri my great pleasure to bring dr. Dynan to the stage. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. Thank you, christian, for that very gracious introduction, and thanks for inviting me to participate. Im really so glad that cap is digging in on this topic. In the two plus year ive been in the administration i learned things that have really unscoredded for me the importance of higher saving in the retirement context, and in other con texts as well. And ive also learned just how complicated. It is to develop policy options on those fronts. So, i think its great youre digging in. I also will say im glad you assembled such an allteam of experts to participate in this conference, speaking to people who have influence, peoples research. Ive been in Conception Research for years now, and the group you had on the agenda this morning was just a group that is influenced me as well. So id like to thank that group for doing that important pub
Get into the question of what policy can do and what the administration has proposed to foster higher savings. And so im going to start with the macro case for higher saving. So, the u. S. Personal saving rate, which is loosely defined as saving net of new borrowing divided by aftertax income has declined markedly over the past several decades. Americans saved 12 of their incomes on average in the 1970s. About nine percent on average in the 1980s, and about seven percent on average in the 1990s. Since 2000, the personal saving rate has averaged just under five percent, which is about where it is today. And its a very low level by historical standards. Researchers dont entirely understand the source of the longer term decline in personal saving rate but some have pointed to lower interest raise, higher aggregate wealth, and a greater ability and willingness of households to borrow as possible contributing factors. Whatever the reason, low permanent saving can be problematic for the grow