Abstract
What goes steady with private savings? This paper investigates reasons for the sustained growth in private savings in Indonesia since 1970, in a period characterized by economic growth, demographic changes, terms of trade movements, and financial liberalization. The main finding is that predictions from a simple life cycle model do well inasmuch as the remarkable growth in private savings rates is associated with a fall in the dependency ratio. This suggests that a reduction in the number of children relative to working age population has alleviated household budget constraints, thereby boosting savings rates.