Socio-economic review of saving in industrial Teesside and rural North Riding

Abstract

Personal Saving is a flexible source of investment, for both the public and private sectors, for which there is great competition. Saving is a natural phenomenon, but, in the sense that securities are bought and sold, it is one which is responsive to stimulation. Almost all securities have unique qualities, thereby limiting their appeal, and, moreover, in motivating saving, account has to be taken of political and economic pressures. Consequently, the market is subjected to excessive variables and these are best tracked through current articles in financial journals. This socio-economic study brings together (i) general information about money and Thrift institutions; (ii) collected statistics over a period; and (iii) several important market research projects. It concentrates the information drawn from a wide area by means of local inquiries, and endeavours to find points of agreement and difference between the populations which are mainly industrial and those which are largely rural. There must be the ability to save, but the willingness to do so is only partially decided by the level of rewards. There are moral, ethical, and sentimental overtones, historically founded, and these appear to be more steadfast in some environments than in others. Saving activity has some barren ground, and the potential savers 'have numbers of profligates within their ranks. Sex, age, and social class give no strong lead as to where the non-savers may be found. The National Savings Movement has a two-fold official policy, (i) to attract the flow of personal saving into the public sector, and,, (ii) to assist in educating the public in sound money management. Other thrift institutions share these aims in varying degrees, and they, too, mobilise goodwill and sentiments to attain their objects; devoting, of course, their funds to the private sector.