ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors discuss the contrast between the cognitive model and the socio-developmental approach favoured by their, and propose a synthesis of the two within the framework of Bronfenbrenner's "ecological" paradigm. They also discuss the issue of cross-cultural research—the generality of their findings derived from the study of young children and their parents in the United Kingdom, across different countries and cultures. The authors examine an important psychological variable closely related to saving behaviour—the ability to defer gratification—and some related empirical results. They explain the policy implications of their findings, especially in the context of the lack of knowledge and information about economic concepts and institutions that characterises both children and their parents in many countries. Saving and economic socialisation are also linked in another sense. Saving behaviour reflects a close, complex and fascinating interaction between individual characteristics and social and historical contexts, more than any other aspect of the development of economic competencies in children.
