• DOI:10.2139/ssrn.397180
• Corpus ID: 54023284

Structure of Financial Savings During Indian Economic Reforms

@article{Jha2003StructureOF,
  title={Structure of Financial Savings During Indian Economic Reforms},
  author={Raghbendra Jha and Ibotombi Singh Longjam},
  journal={Empirical Economics},
  year={2003},
  volume={31},
  pages={861-869}
}

• R. Jha, I. Longjam
• Published 1 April 2003
• Economics
• Empirical Economics

This paper conducts nonparametric tests to examine whether data on financial savings in India can be rationalized in terms of a utility function of a representative economic agent. The nonparametric test has an advantage over its parametric counterpart in that it does not assume the existence of a utility function per se and checks whether the representative consumer’s demand structure can at all be rationalized by a utility function. Our test results of the necessary and sufficient conditions of the weak separability hypothesis suggest that data on financial savings in India are consistent with the existence of a utility function for a representative individual with a sub-preference where contractual savings (insurance and provident funds) can be separated out. This result could facilitate the construction of a suitable financial aggregate using these assets.