A qualitative and quantitative outline of the semantic history of ‘saving’ in 19th century political economy

This study explores the concept of saving through qualitative and quantitative analysis, focusing on its semantic history and the consequent economic implications. It highlights the connections between political economy, religious and moral doctrines. Classical economists primarily associated saving with investment and overlooked detailed analysis of saving behaviours, hinging their analysis on the notion of capital. The concept was positively regarded, linked to virtue and moral behaviours together with fruitful outcomes. However, a precise (with respect to other economic categories such as consumption, capital and labour) economic definition was lacking until the 20th century. Marshall created a breakpoint, that Irving Fisher and Böhm-Bawerk used to introduce eventually new perspectives, paving the way for clearer definitions. The paper examines the evolution of the term “saving” from Adam Smith to the early 20th century, showcasing diverse and contradictory visions among classical authors. Later economists attempted to disentangle the concept, leading to the modern understanding of it. The quantitative part is based on a computational linguistic approach: relative frequencies, use in context, (multi)keywords and a brief diachronic analysis are the main tools exploited to better trace the semantic history of the concept