Triumph of the Optimists
101 Years of Global Investment Returns
Published on 3. February 2002
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-691-09194-5 (ISBN)
Description
Investors have too often extrapolated from recent experience. In the 1950s, who but the most rampant optimist would have dreamt that over the next fifty years the real return on equities would be 9% per year? Yet this is what happened in the U.S. stock market. The optimists triumphed. However, as Don Marquis observed, an optimist is someone who never had much experience. The authors of this book extend our experience across regions and across time. They present a comprehensive and consistent analysis of investment returns for equities, bonds, bills, currencies and inflation, spanning sixteen countries, from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. This is achieved in a clear and simple way, with over 130 color diagrams that make comparison easy. Crucially, the authors analyze total returns, including reinvested income. They show that some historical indexes overstate long-term performance because they are contaminated by survivorship bias and that long-term stock returns are in most countries seriously overestimated, due to a focus on periods that with hindsight are known to have been successful.
The book also provides the first comprehensive evidence on the long-term equity risk premium--the reward for bearing the risk of common stocks. The authors reveal whether the United States and United Kingdom have had unusually high stock market returns compared to other countries. The book covers the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, and South Africa. Triumph of the Optimists is required reading for investment professionals, financial economists, and investors. It will be the definitive reference in the field and consulted for years to come.
The book also provides the first comprehensive evidence on the long-term equity risk premium--the reward for bearing the risk of common stocks. The authors reveal whether the United States and United Kingdom have had unusually high stock market returns compared to other countries. The book covers the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, and South Africa. Triumph of the Optimists is required reading for investment professionals, financial economists, and investors. It will be the definitive reference in the field and consulted for years to come.
Reviews / Votes
"At the very least, this [book] suggests that the recent blind adherence to the cult of the equity needs to be questioned and that the strategic weighting of bonds in institutional portfolios should be increased."--Philip Coggan, Financial Times "A model of how investor research should be carried out... Like most great books, Triumph of the Optimists has us saying 'Wow!' and 'Unbelievable!' with startling regularity... This is a book that belongs on every investor's bookshelf."--Victor Niederhoffer and Laurel Kenner, "Money" columnists, msn.com "Connoisseurs of financial history will find plenty to enjoy in Triumph of the Optimists... The evidence produced by Mr. Dimson and his colleagues is striking, [and]... these issues are more than just academic... A provocative lesson."--Matthew Lynn, Financial Times "By far the most important investment book in years...It is the best and most complete source of data yet available... If you spend an hour with it and don't learn anything worth the price then you're truly lousy at learning about markets... Right now, buying this book makes more sense than buying stocks."--Ken Fisher, Bloomberg Money "A brilliant new book."--Jason Zweig, Time "Our favorite book on global stock market performance... [It] epitomizes outstanding investment research... Unless intelligent life is discovered on another planet and a stock market is found to have been operating there for some centuries, it is unlikely that much new data can be brought to bear on the issue of long-run stock returns. Triumph of the Optimists may well be the last word on the subject for some time to come."--Active Trader magazineMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
131 color illus
Dimensions
Height: 279 mm
Width: 203 mm
Weight
1474 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-09194-5 (9780691091945)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Elroy Dimson | Paul Marsh | Mike Staunton
Triumph of the Optimists
101 Years of Global Investment Returns
E-Book
06/2015
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€245.99
Available for download
Persons
All three authors are at the London Business School. Elroy Dimson is Professor of Finance. Paul Marsh is Esmee Fairbairn Professor of Finance. Mike Staunton is Director of the London Share Price Database.
Content
Preface xi Part One: 101 years of global investment returns 1 Chapter 1 Introduction and overview 3 1.1 Need for an international perspective 3 1.2 The historical record 5 1.3 Inside the markets 7 1.4 The equity premium 8 1.5 Sixteen countries, one world 10 Chapter 2 World markets: today and yesterday 11 2.1 The world's stock markets today 11 2.2 The world's bond markets today 14 2.3 Why stock and bond markets matter 18 2.4 The world's markets yesterday 19 2.5 The US and UK stock markets: 1900 versus 2000 23 2.6 Industry composition: 1900 versus 2000 23 2.7 Stock market concentration 28 2.8 Summary 32 Chapter 3 Measuring long-term returns 34 3.1 Good indexes and bad 34 3.2 Index design: a case study 36 3.3 Dividends, coverage, and weightings 38 3.4 Easy-data bias in international indexes 40 3.5 Measuring inflation and fixed-income returns 43 3.6 Summary 44 Chapter 4 International capital market history 45 4.1 The US record 45 4.2 The UK record 48 4.3 Stock market returns around the world 50 4.4 Equities compared with bonds and bills 51 4.5 Investment risk and the distribution of annual returns 54 4.6 Risk, diversification, and market risk 56 4.7 Risk comparisons across asset classes and countries 59 4.8 Summary 61 Chapter 5 Inflation, interest rates, and bill returns 63 5.1 Inflation in the United States and the United Kingdom 63 5.2 Inflation around the world 65 5.3 US treasury bills and real interest rates 68 5.4 Real interest rates around the world 71 5.5 Summary 72 Chapter 6 Bond returns 74 6.1 US and UK bond returns 74 6.2 Bond returns around the world 79 6.3 Bond maturity premia 81 6.4 Inflation-indexed bonds and the real term premium 84 6.5 Corporate bonds and the default risk premium 87 6.6 Summary 89 Chapter 7 Exchange rates and common-currency returns 91 7.1 Long-run exchange rate behavior 91 7.2 The international monetary system 93 7.3 Long-run purchasing power parity 95 7.4 Deviations from purchasing power parity 96 7.5 Volatility of exchange rates 98 7.6 Common-currency returns on bonds and equities 100 7.7 Summary 103 Chapter 8 International investment 105 8.1 Local market versus currency risk 105 8.2 A twentieth century world index for equities and bonds 108 8.3 Ex post benefits from holding the world index 111 8.4 Correlations between countries 114 8.5 Prospective gains from international diversification 117 8.6 Home bias and constraints on international investment 120 8.7 Summary 123 Chapter 9 Size effects and seasonality in stock returns 124 9.1 The size effect in the United States 124 9.2 The size effect in the United Kingdom 126 9.3 The size effect around the world 129 9.4 The reversal of the size premium 131 9.5 Seasonality and size 135 9.6 Summary 138 Chapter 10 Value and growth in stock returns 139 10.1 Value versus growth in the United States 139 10.2 Value and growth investing in the United Kingdom 142 10.3 The international evidence 145 10.4 Summary 148 Chapter 11 Equity dividends 149 11.1 The impact of income 149 11.2 US and UK dividend growth 152 11.3 Dividend growth around the world 154 11.4 Dividend growth, GDP growth, and real equity returns 155 11.5 Dividend yields around the world and over time 157 11.6 Disappearing dividends 158 11.7 Summary 161 Chapter 12 The equity risk premium 163 12.1 US risk premia relative to bills 163 12.2 Worldwide risk premia relative to bills 166 12.3 US risk premia relative to bonds 169 12.4 Worldwide risk premia relative to bonds 171 12.5 Summary 173 Chapter 13 The prospective risk premium 176 13.1 Why the risk premium matters 177 13.2 How big should the risk premium be? 179 13.3 Measuring the premium 181 13.4 Arithmetic and geometric premia 183 13.5 The changing consensus 185 13.6 History as a guide to the future 188 13.7 Expectations of the risk premium 190 13.8 Summary 193 Chapter 14 Implications for investors 195 14.1 Market risk in the twenty-first century 195 14.2 Inferences from other markets 199 14.3 What does the future hold? 202 14.4 Implications for individual investors 204 14.5 Implications for investment institutions 207 14.6 Summary 209 Chapter 15 Implications for companies 211 15.1 The cost of capital 211 15.2 Corporate investment decisions 215 15.3 Corporate financing decisions 217 15.4 Summary 219 Chapter 16 Conclusion 220 16.1 Long-term returns 220 16.2 Key messages 222 16.3 Conclusion 224 Part Two: Sixteen countries, one world 225 Chapter 17 Our global database 227 Chapter 18 Australia 229 Chapter 19 Belgium 234 Chapter 20 Canada 239 Chapter 21 Denmark 244 Chapter 22 France 249 Chapter 23 Germany 254 Chapter 24 Ireland 259 Chapter 25 Italy 264 Chapter 26 Japan 269 Chapter 27 The Netherlands 274 Chapter 28 South Africa 279 Chapter 29 Spain 284 Chapter 30 Sweden 289 Chapter 31 Switzerland 294 Chapter 32 United Kingdom 299 Chapter 33 United States 306 Chapter 34 World 311 References 316 About the authors 331 Index 333