But we need also to know whether the source of that saving is sustainable and, beyond that, whether the type of financial assets in which our saving overall is accumulated affects our productivity. During the past six years, about 40 percent of the total increase in our capital stock in effect has been financed, on net, by saving from abroad.
If every second young person is out of work – as is still the case in some countries in Europe – it seriously harms the economy, because people willing to work cannot work and skills are not developed. And it threatens social harmony. Unemployment can lead in the long run to increased social problems and ill-health.