This point is illustrated by figure 2, which shows the levels, as opposed to the growth rates, of real gross domestic product (GDP) for the two groups of countries.
It is also consistent with earlier work at the Reserve Bank showing that households that are particularly uncertain about the future tend to spend less of any increase in income than do households that are more confident.7 In summary, this work on savings using household level data confirms many of the popular explanations for the recent increase in savings.