1COMPARABILITY OF SAVING AND PROFIT RATIOSOECD National Accounts Experts MeetingChateau de la Muette, Paris7-10 October 20032Background Discussion of alternative household saving measures at October 2002 NAEM ECB/OECD project– Detailed examination of institutional sector accounts for the euro area, the United States and Japan with particular emphasis on household saving ratios, profit ratios and investment ratios Scope of this paper– Household saving ratios– Profit ratios3Household saving ratios Issues relating to the basic measure of the household saving ratio– Gross or net?– Include NPISH?– Change in net equity of households on pension funds– Adjusted household disposable income Proposed definition for use in OECD Statistical Databases (including Annex Table 24 of Economic Outlook) Further adjustments to the household saving ratio4Statistical Annex Table 24, OECD Economic Outlook Reproduced as Table 1 - shows household saving ratios for 21 member countries Footnotes to this table indicate differences in the data currently being published for various countries OECD Economics Department tends to use measures for the household saving ratio and other variables that will be readily recognised in the member countries– Hence what is published by member countries in their own national accounts has an effect on international comparability5Gross or net household saving Net is the preferred measure Only use gross if COFC estimates are deficient Data for 7 countries is currently shown gross Recommendation 1: It is recommended that the seven countries (Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) include household saving ratios in their national accounts publication...
