1996-10-101996-10-101996-10-101996-10-10https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5077This After 1991 Colombia witnessed a sharp fall in the national savings rate (see figure 1.1), and in particular that of the private sector. Two hypotheses have been advanced for explaining this behavior. The first one stresses consumption smoothing within the Perrnanent Income Hypothesis framework (PIH). The reasons for such smoothing can be related with three major phenomena that characterized this period; namely, i. Since 1990 the government pursued an "apertura" (opening), consisting of tariff reductions, which the agents may have deemed as non-credible (transitory); hence, they exploited the advantage of purchasing imported goods at current low prices, expecting future rises in tariffs. ii. The agents believed in the apertura, but an overshooting of capital inflows led to an overvalued exchange rate, which, they expected, should be corrected at some point in the near future, with similar effects on current imports consumption. A similar effect on the real interest rate has been also claimed to have similar effects on total consumption (see Lopes et al, 1996). And iii. a predictable increase in income originated in fairly secure and substancial oil exports starting in 1997; this could lead oil exports revenues from $ 1.4 bn. yearly in 1991 (approximately 42% of total exports), to $ 4bn. after 1997. Such expected rise in income would have caused the observed increase in consumption. The second hypothesis is based on the relaxation of liquidity constraints (LCH), as a result of the capital inflows. Urrutia and Lopez (1994) argue that the increase in consumption was due to a relaxation in the liquidity constraints binding on an important share of the population (75% according to them). The inflow of capital experienced in the first years of the 1990s, and the monetary policy of that period would have allowed an increase in outstanding loans directed to consumption purposes. Cárdenas (1996) and Sánchez (1996) also present evidence in support of this hypoth.PDFspaOpen AccessThe fall in Colombian savings during the 1990s: theory and evidenceWorking PaperE58 - Central Banks and Their PoliciesE52 - Monetary PolicyE21 - Consumption; Saving; WealthFallColombiaAhorro e inversión -- Colombia -- 1990-2000Consumo (Economía) -- Colombia -- 1990-2000Acceso abiertoAtribucion-NoComercial-CompartirIgual CC BY-NC-SA 4.0E58 - Bancos centrales y sus políticasE52 - Política monetariaE21 - Consumo; Ahorro; RiquezaLas opiniones contenidas en el presente documento son responsabilidad exclusiva de los autores y no comprometen al Banco de la República ni a su Junta Directiva.The opinions contained in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not commit Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.Objeto de publicación: La obra de mí (nuestra) autoría tiene por objeto ser publicada en el Portal de Investigaciones del Banco de la República e incluirla en el repositorio institucional de esa misma entidad. La obra podrá consistir en documento escrito, audiovisual, audio, gráfico, fotográfico, infográfico, podcasts, etc., y podrá estar en cualquier formato conocido o por conocerse.Datos personales: El(los) autor(es) ha(n) incluido sus datos personales (nombres, correo electrónico, filiación académica, perfil académico, entre otros) en el Portal de Investigaciones o la obra remitida para publicación, y por consiguiente, manifiesta(n) que mediante el diligenciamiento y registro de sus datos personales autoriza(n) al Banco de la República el tratamiento (recolección, almacenamiento, uso, circulación o supresión) de todos los datos suministrados con la finalidad de adelantar la publicación de la obra en el Portal de Investigaciones, dar a conocer su perfil académico y medios de contacto para fines académicos y divulgativos, así como para la construcción de indicadores y estadísticas para el seguimiento y control de las actividades de divulgación del Portal de Investigaciones. Para tal fin, se informa que el tratamiento de los datos personales se realizará de acuerdo con las políticas o lineamientos generales disponibles en http://www.banrep.gov.co/proteccion-datos-personales, en la sección “Protección de Datos Personales - Habeas Data”.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12134/5077