Determinants of savings and investment among low-income households in South Africa

Abstract

This study examined the determinants of savings and investment among low-income households in South Africa. Savings and investment play a significant role in improving living standard of people and also act as important factors for state survival in times of economic crises. The benefits of household savings and investment cannot be easily quantified, especially in achieving economic growth. Despite the numerous benefits, low income household savings and investments remain an issue that has characterised the lives of many low-income households in South African since post-apartheid. The study is based on Non-Ricardian Households (NRH) which comprises medium and high-income households, which are involved in the financial market, participate in buying bonds or stocks, and are classified as saving households. Non-Ricardian households comprise low-income households which largely depend on government welfare benefits for sustenance and are classified as the low savings and hence low-income households. The research used National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) dataset wave one to five. Four different panel models were analysed in determining the socio-economic characteristics of NRH in South Africa. The panel estimators include Pooled OLS, fixed and random effects methods. The results show that households’ income, household size, household geographical local and household grants among others are major determinant of households’ savings and investment in South Africa. Government grants received by households have positive relationship with savings and negative relationship with investment. This is because the low-income households do not save to invest but save for delay consumption. The results have also showed the likelihood of government grants to household’s crowd out household investment as they over depend on the government for both present and future expenditure. The study recommends that government should create a more enabling environment for Non-Ricardian households to engage in productive activities and to also create more low skills jobs and encourage reduction of birth rate among low-income households.