Recent research on the equity risk premium has questioned the ability of historical estimates of the risk premium to provide reliable estimates of the expected risk premium. We calculate the equity risk premium for a number of countries over longer horizons than has been attempted to date. We show that the realised US equity premium is consistent with the premia obtained elsewhere. Furthermore, using well over a century of data, we find that current estimates of the equity premia are close to those observed during the pre-1914 era. This is of particular relevance given the argument that the financial environment during that period bears a closer resemblance to today than the 1914-1945 period, and possibly also the 1945-1971 period. This points to a current equity risk premium that is considerably lower than consensus forecasts (Welch 2001).
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Paper provided by Economics and Finance Section, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University in its series Economics and Finance Discussion Papers with number
04-10.
Length: 23 pages Date of creation: Sep 2004 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:bru:bruedp:04-10
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Paper
Kyri Kyriacou & Jacob Madsen & Bryan Mase, 2004.
"The Equity Premium,"
Public Policy Discussion Papers
04-10, Economics and Finance Section, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University.
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Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2002.
"The Equity Premium,"
Journal of Finance,
American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 637-659, 04.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Eugene Fama & F. & Kenneth R. French, .
"The Equity Premium.","
CRSP working papers
522, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
Maurice Obstfeld & Alan M. Taylor, 2003.
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in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 121-188
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Ravi Jagannathan & Ellen R. McGrattan & Anna Scherbina, 2001.
"The Declining U.S. Equity Premium,"
NBER Working Papers
8172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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