And some developing economies, such as Brazil, have moved from being rather large net borrowers to being net savers today. Inside the United States, there has been a sharp decrease in national saving. The high expected returns in equity markets in the late 1990s led to large capital flows into the United States.
The significant capital gains - first on equities in the late 1990s and then on housing in this decade - led to a net decline in household saving out of current income. Furthermore, the low interest rates after 2001, and importantly, the shift in the U.S. fiscal position after 2000, have contributed to growing net dissaving in the United States.