In economics, saving is not spending one’s INCOME (i.e., postponed CONSUMPTION). Saving is distinguished from savings in that it is a flow of income over time, while savings is the accumulated amount of funds not spent (i.e., the result of past saving). Economists have identified many factors influencing saving, including income, INTEREST RATES, and precautionary motives. Generally higher interest rates, greater incomes, and lowered consumer confidence induce greater saving, which also increases in anticipation of major consumer expenditures. Moral, religious, and cultural values also influence saving. Most families begin saving as soon as children are born. Ben Franklin’s advice of “a penny saved is a penny earned” influenced early American values, and many cultures traditionally had dowry systems requiring the payment of precious metals or animals as part of a wedding arrangement. Social commentators frequently labeled the 1980s as the “me first” decade with heavy emphasis on consumption as a goal. Similarly, nearly a century earlier, social critic Thorstein Veblen, describing the “Robber Baron” era of the American Industrial Revolution, introduced terms like leisure class and conspicuous consumption. Saving is critical to the growth of any economic system; as one saying puts it, “There can be no INVESTMENT without saving.” In the CIRCULAR FLOW MODEL of economic systems, household income (income after taxes) that is not spent on consumption typically is deposited with FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES—commercial banks and other financial institutions. Financial intermediaries aggregate savings from households and provide LOANS to businesses, which in turn use the borrowed funds to make investments. This is what economists call voluntary savings. Savings that are hoarded and not used in any way do not contribute to investment and ECONOMIC GROWTH. During the GREAT DEPRESSION, over 10,000 banks failed, and depositors lost their savings. In response many Americans returned to the practice of keeping unspent income under their mattresses or buried in jars. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created in part to overcome consumer fears of depositing their savings in financial intermediaries. In many poor economies, households consume nearly 100 percent of their income. In this so-called circle of poverty, low incomes yield low savings, which yield low investment, which yields low incomes. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT experts often focus on the role of saving for economic growth in EMERGING MARKETS. Many economic systems include forced saving, whereby portions of household income are removed by government through taxation. SOCIAL SECURITY is a forced-savings program. In 2000, the U.S. savings rate was zero as Americans were consuming 100 percent or more of their income. Much of the investment CAPITAL in the U.S. economy was coming from saving by international households. The U.S. government attempts to induce greater domestic saving through programs like INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTs and KEOGH PLANs. Low rates of saving increase interest rates, reducing investment. In Singapore, at one time the government required workers to deposit 20 percent of their income in a national retirement fund. Retained earnings by businesses are also a source of savings. Businesses either utilize PROFITs to make new investments or distribute profits in the form of DIVIDENDS and bonuses. The latter become income for recipients, who then choose whether to consume or save.