In principle, private households can anticipate future productivity (and income) gains and raise consumption above current income. Such consumption-smoothing behaviour would reduce saving in the short term, thereby further weakening the current account (Fournier and Koske, 2010, Vogel, 2011). In practice, however, this effect is not supported by empirical evidence, which rather suggests that stronger productivity tends to be associated with an increase in private and total saving in both the short and medium run, implying that households gradually adjust consumption as income gains are realised.