Determinants of household saving in Slovenia and European union

Varčevanje je eden pomembnejših dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na gospodarsko rast v državi, saj je stopnja varčevanja zelo povezana z investicijami v državi. Poznavanje dejavnikov varčevanja je tako pomembno z vidika ekonomske politike, da lahko tako nosilci fiskalne politike vplivajo na odločitev posameznikov o tem, ali bodo del svojega razpoložljivega dohodka namenili za varčevanje ali pa za potrošnjo. Magistrsko delo obravnava varčevanje v gospodarstvu in dejavnike varčevanja v Sloveniji, Avstriji, na Madžarskem, Češkem, Slovaškem in na Poljskem. Omejili smo se na države Srednje Evrope, saj so si te države med seboj dokaj podobne tako glede gospodarske razvitosti kakor tudi glede kulture, poleg tega pa imajo med seboj zelo dobro razvito medsebojno trgovino. V teoretičnem delu magistrske naloge najprej analiziramo osnovne teorije varčevanja in v njej izpostavljene dejavnike varčevanja. Predstavimo in analiziramo tudi rezultate empiričnih raziskovanj preučevanja dejavnikov varčevanja gospodinjstev. V nalogi prav tako predstavimo osnovne finančne instrumente, v katerih lahko gospodinjstva varčujejo. V empiričnem delu naloge analiziramo posamezne dejavnike varčevanja, njihovo gibanje skozi preučevano obdobje raziskovanja, tj. 2000–2017, in s pomočjo korelacijske analize ocenimo povezanost posameznih dejavnikov varčevanja s stopnjo varčevanja. Dejavniki, ki jih analiziramo, so naslednji: raven razpoložljivega dohodka na prebivalca, realna rast BDP na prebivalca, obrestna mera, inflacija, stopnja brezposelnosti, starostna odvisnost, stopnja urbanizacije, tuje direktne investicije in primanjkljaj oziroma presežek v proračunu države, poleg teh dejavnikov pa smo naredili tudi korelacijsko analizo s pričakovano življenjsko dobo po 65. letu starosti, spremembo cen nepremičnin in pogoji trgovanja. Rezultati empirične raziskave kažejo, da so demografski dejavniki in stopnja brezposelnosti najbolj in statistično značilno povezani s stopnjo varčevanja. Nadalje smo ugotovili statistično značilno pozitivno povezavo med varčevanjem in starostno odvisnostjo, primanjkljajem v proračunu, rastjo cen nepremičnin, pričakovano življenjsko dobo in bruto razpoložljivim dohodkom. Negativno statistično značilno povezavo pa smo ugotovili za dejavnike: realna rast BDP na prebivalca, realna obrestna mera in stopnja brezposelnosti. Dejavniki stopnja inflacije, stopnja urbanizacije, pogoji trgovanja in tuje direktne naložbe niso statistično značilno povezani s stopnjo varčevanja. Rezultati so tudi pokazali, da je največ preučevanih dejavnikov statistično značilno povezanih s stopnjo varčevanja na Poljskem, na drugi strani pa noben od dejavnikov ni povezan s stopnjo varčevanja na Češkem.Savings are one of the most important determinants affecting economic growth in the country, as the level of savings is highly correlated with investments in the country. Saving is important from the point of view of economic policy, so that fiscal policy makers can influence the decisions of individuals to devote part of their disposable income to saving or for consumption. The master’s thesis deals with saving in the economy and saving factors in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. We concentrate in our study on the countries of Central Europe because these countries are quite similar in both economic development and culture, and they have very well-developed mutual trade among themselves. In the theoretical part of the master\u27s thesis, we first analyse the basic theories of saving and its factors, which we expose. We also present and analyse the results of empirical studies of determinants of household saving. In the thesis we also present the basic financial instruments in which households can save. In the empirical part of the thesis, we analyse individual factors of saving, their movement through the researched period, i.e. 2000–2017, and with correlation analysis we estimate the correlation between the individual savings factors and the level of savings. The factors that we analyse are the following: the level of disposable income per capita, economic growth per capita, real interest rate, inflation, unemployment rate, age dependency, degree of urbanisation, foreign direct investment and deficit or surplus in the state budget. In addition to these factors, we also perform a correlation analysis with expected life expectancy after the age of 65, a change in real estate prices and terms of trade. The results of the empirical research show that demographic factors and the unemployment rate are those factors most and statistically significantly related to the level of savings. Furthermore, we found a statistically significant positive link between saving and age dependency, budget deficits, growth of the real estate prices, life expectancy and gross disposable income. Negative statistical significance was established for the factors: economic growth per capita, real interest rate and unemployment rate. Factors of inflation rate, degree of urbanisation, trading conditions and foreign direct investment are not statistically significant related to the level of savings. The results also showed that most of the factors studied are statistically significantly related to the level of savings in Poland, and on the other hand, none of the factors is related to the saving rate in the Czech Republic