Keywords
Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, household savings
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, triggered a global health and economic crisis, leading to unprecedented changes in consumer behaviour and the functioning of national economies. This article examines the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent inflationary crisis on household savings levels in selected European countries. The analysis includes an assessment of household responses to changing macroeconomic conditions, such as inflation, interest rates, and household incomes, as well as the effectiveness of implemented monetary and fiscal policies. The study employs a neural network model considering autoregressive relationships in a panel data approach. The research covers data from 2000–2023 for fifteen European countries. The results indicate a two-phase reaction of households: an initial sharp increase in savings in the first year of the pandemic, followed by a decline in these values below projected levels. Four groups of countries with similar reaction trajectories were identified, highlighting the diversity in savings strategies. The study emphasizes the importance of flexibility in managing economic crises and adjusting policies to specific local conditions. These findings are crucial for policymakers, enabling the development of more effective strategies for responding to future economic crises.
Acknowledgments
Funding
The publication was financed from the subsidy granted to the Cracow University of Economics – Project nr 077/EER/2022/POT.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of the article.
Declaration About the Scope of AI Utilization
The authors did not use an AI tool in the preparation of the article
Recommended Citation
Mierzejewski, M., & Szczurek, J. (2025). European Household Savings Dynamics: Under Inflation and Post-Pandemic Shocks. Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, 2025(1), 70-82. https://doi.org/10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2025.1.5
First Page
70
Last Page
82
Page Count
13
Received Date
05.11.2025
Revised Date
10.03.2025
Accept Date
14.03.2025
Online Available Date
15.05.2025
DOI
10.7172/2353-6845.jbfe.2025.1.5
JEL Code
G51
Publisher
University of Warsaw