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Stock Volatility and the Great Depression

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  • Gustavo S Cortes
  • Marc D Weidenmier

Abstract

Stock return volatility during the Great Depression has been labeled a “volatility puzzle” because the standard deviation of stock returns was 2 to 3 times higher than any other period in American history. We investigate this puzzle using a new series of building permits and leverage. Our results suggest that volatility in building permit growth and financial leverage largely explain the high level of stock volatility during the Great Depression. Markets factored in the possibility of a forthcoming economic disaster. Received September 30, 2017; editorial decision August 27, 2018 by Editor Philip E. Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online

Suggested Citation

  • Gustavo S Cortes & Marc D Weidenmier, 2019. "Stock Volatility and the Great Depression," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(9), pages 3544-3570.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:32:y:2019:i:9:p:3544-3570.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhy134
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    2. Fishback, Price & Fleitas, Sebastian & Rose, Jonathan & Snowden, Ken, 2020. "Collateral Damage: The Impact of Foreclosures on New Home Mortgage Lending in the 1930s," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(3), pages 853-885, September.
    3. Nazemi, Abdolreza & Baumann, Friedrich & Fabozzi, Frank J., 2022. "Intertemporal defaulted bond recoveries prediction via machine learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(3), pages 1162-1177.
    4. Olkhov, Victor, 2022. "Economic Policy - the Forth Dimension of the Economic Theory," MPRA Paper 112685, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gabriel P. Mathy, 2020. "How much did uncertainty shocks matter in the Great Depression?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(2), pages 283-323, May.
    6. Cortes, Gustavo S. & Taylor, Bryan & Weidenmier, Marc D., 2022. "Financial factors and the propagation of the Great Depression," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 577-594.
    7. Jean-Laurent Cadorel, 2024. "The 1929 Crash of the New York Stock Exchange as a Liquidity Crisis [Le Krach de 1929 du New York Stock Exchange comme crise de liquidité]," Post-Print hal-04347097, HAL.
    8. Pooyan Amir-Ahmadi & Gustavo S. Cortes & Marc D. Weidenmier, 2020. "Regional Monetary Policies and the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 26695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Karol Jan Borowiecki & Michał Dzieliński & Alexander Tepper, 2023. "The great margin call: The role of leverage in the 1929 Wall Street crash," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 807-826, August.

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    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

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