A Correction and Update Regarding Individual Common Stocks as Inflation Hedges

Although they did not affect the individual rates of return per inflationary period that were the main concern of our study previously published in the Journal, it has recently come to our attention that there were computational errors in the summary weighted average real returns. Thus, we are taking this opportunity to correct the original errors and also to update the study results for the period from December 31, 1968, through December 31, 1973. In the analysis and discussion which follows it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the previous study and the methodology employed. Therefore, Table 1 is simply a correction of Table 4 in the 1971 article. This is followed by a discussion of the revised results and changes in conclusions prompted by the adjusted results. Table 2 contains nominal and real rates of return for the period from December 31, 1968, to December 31, 1973, nominal and real rates of returns for the full period from December 31, 1965, to December 31, 1973, and finally, a new set of weighted average returns using the figures updated through 1973.