A large part of the plan to get Britain out of financial turmoil rests on British consumers spending on the high streets and in the shopping malls. Without British consumer spending, growth will continue to be sluggish and unemployment will remain stubbornly high.
But there is a problem: during the past 50 years we've changed from a nation of savers to one of lavish spenders. Average personal debt is now approaching £10,000. Many of us are in no financial position to get back in the shops.
This is the backdrop for Princeton University economist Sheldon Garon's new book Beyond Our Means. He charts the decline of saving in the United States and the United Kingdom and looks at the reasons that much of Europe and Asia didn't follow our lead.
He also seeks to explain why high interest rates didn't encourage saving in the boom years and why current levels of relatively high inflation haven't stopped savings rates shooting up again in Britain.
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