What drives private saving across the world?

Saving rates display considerable variation across countries and over time. This paper investigates empirically the policy and nonpolicy factors behin d these saving disparities using a large, crosscountry, time-series data se t and following an encompassing approach including a number of relevant pri vate saving determinants. The paper extends the literature in several dimen sions. It uses the largest data set on aggregate saving assembled to date a nd explores both national and private saving determinants. It uses panel in strumental-variable techniques to correct for endogeneity and heterogeneity . Finally, it performs a variety of robustness checks to changes in estimat ion procedures, data samples, and model specification.