The origins of saving in the Western world -- Organizing thrift in the age of nation-states -- America the exceptional -- Japanese traditions of diligence and thrift -- Saving for the new Japan -- Mobilizing for the Great War -- Save now, buy later : World War II and beyond -- "Luxury is the enemy" : Japan in peace and war -- Postwar Japan's national salvation -- Exporting thrift, or the myth of "Asian values" -- "There is money. Spend it" : America since 1945 -- Keep on saving? : questions for the twenty-first century.