IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/irn/wpaper/22-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Stock Return Predictability before the First World War

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca Stuart

Abstract

This paper studies the predictability of stock returns using monthly data on eight markets over the period 1876-1913. In contrast to much of the existing literature I find broad predictability across stock markets. Market interest rates and seasonal dummies generally have predictive power, and in almost all of series studied there is a statistically significant autoregressive component. These relationships appear to be stable over the sample period. Testing returns from multiple indices for the same market indicates that the compilation of the index does not systematically affect its predictability. Finally, the results are robust to the exclusion of extreme observations.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca Stuart, 2022. "Stock Return Predictability before the First World War," IRENE Working Papers 22-02, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:irn:wpaper:22-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www5.unine.ch/RePEc/ftp/irn/pdfs/WP22-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Campbell, Gareth & Grossman, Richard & Turner, John, 2019. "Before the Cult of Equity: New Monthly Indices of the British Share Market, 1829-1929," CEPR Discussion Papers 13717, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Mankiw, N. Gregory & Miron, Jeffrey A., 1991. "Should the fed smooth interest rates? the case of seasonal monetary policy," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 41-69, January.
    3. David Le Bris & Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, 2010. "A challenge to triumphant optimists? A new blue chips Index for the Paris stock-exchange (1854-2007)," Post-Print halshs-00754455, HAL.
    4. Daniel Kaufmann, 2020. "Is deflation costly after all? The perils of erroneous historical classifications," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(5), pages 614-628, August.
    5. Goetzmann, William N. & Ibbotson, Roger G. & Peng, Liang, 2001. "A new historical database for the NYSE 1815 to 1925: Performance and predictability," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-32, January.
    6. Chen, Long, 2009. "On the reversal of return and dividend growth predictability: A tale of two periods," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 128-151, April.
    7. Hoag, Christopher, 2006. "The Atlantic Telegraph Cable and Capital Market Information Flows," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 342-353, June.
    8. Miron, Jeffrey A, 1986. "Financial Panics, the Seasonality of the Nominal Interest Rate, and theFounding of the Fed," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 125-140, March.
    9. David Le Bris & Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, 2009. "A challenge to triumphant optimists? A blue chips index for the Paris Stock-Exchange (1854-2007)," Working Papers halshs-00586765, HAL.
    10. Funke, Manuel & Schularick, Moritz & Trebesch, Christoph, 2016. "Going to extremes: Politics after financial crises, 1870–2014," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 227-260.
    11. Le Bris, David & Hautcœur, Pierre-Cyrille, 2010. "A challenge to triumphant optimists? A blue chips index for the Paris stock exchange, 1854–2007," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 141-183, October.
    12. Richard E. Baldwin & Philippe Martin, 1999. "Two Waves of Globalisation: Superficial Similarities, Fundamental Differences," NBER Working Papers 6904, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Volosovych, Vadym, 2011. "Measuring financial market integration over the long run: Is there a U-shape?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1535-1561.
    14. le Bris, David & Goetzmann, William N. & Pouget, Sébastien, 2019. "The present value relation over six centuries: The case of the Bazacle company," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 248-265.
    15. Michael Bordo & Andrew Filardo, 2005. "Deflation in a historical perspective," BIS Working Papers 186, Bank for International Settlements.
    16. Bekaert, Geert & Mehl, Arnaud, 2019. "On the global financial market integration “swoosh” and the trilemma," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 227-245.
    17. Bordo, Michael D. & Murshid, Antu Panini, 2006. "Globalization and changing patterns in the international transmission of shocks in financial markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 655-674, June.
    18. Sven Bouman & Ben Jacobsen, 2002. "The Halloween Indicator, "Sell in May and Go Away": Another Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1618-1635, December.
    19. Urquhart, Andrew & McGroarty, Frank, 2014. "Calendar effects, market conditions and the Adaptive Market Hypothesis: Evidence from long-run U.S. data," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 154-166.
    20. Cherry Y. Zhang & Ben Jacobsen, 2013. "Are Monthly Seasonals Real? A Three Century Perspective," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1743-1785.
    21. Obstfeld,Maurice & Taylor,Alan M., 2005. "Global Capital Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671798, December.
    22. Chen, Shiu-Sheng, 2009. "Predicting the bear stock market: Macroeconomic variables as leading indicators," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 211-223, February.
    23. Richard S. Grossman & Ronan C. Lyons & Kevin Hjortshøj O'rourke & Madalina A. Ursu, 2014. "A monthly stock exchange index for Ireland, 1864–1930," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 248-276.
    24. Pesaran, M Hashem & Timmermann, Allan, 1995. "Predictability of Stock Returns: Robustness and Economic Significance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1201-1228, September.
    25. Richard Baldwin & Philippe Martin, 1999. "Two Waves of Globalisation: Superficial Similarities, Fundamental Differences," Post-Print hal-03417560, HAL.
    26. Golez, Benjamin & Koudijs, Peter, 2018. "Four centuries of return predictability," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(2), pages 248-263.
    27. Stuart, Rebecca, 2017. "Co-movements in stock market returns, Ireland and London 1869–1929," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 167-184, August.
    28. Barsky, Robert B. & Mankiw, N. Gregory & Miron, Jeffrey A. & Weill, David N., 1988. "The worldwide change in the behavior of interest rates and prices in 1914," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1123-1147, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rebecca Stuart, 2021. "Measuring stock market integration during the Gold Standard," IRENE Working Papers 21-01, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Gerlach, Stefan & Stuart, Rebecca, 2021. "International Co-movements of Inflation, 1851-1913," CEPR Discussion Papers 15914, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. le Bris, David & Goetzmann, William N. & Pouget, Sébastien, 2019. "The present value relation over six centuries: The case of the Bazacle company," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 248-265.
    4. Eichengreen, Barry & Esteves, Rui, 2019. "The Trials of the Trilemma: International Finance 1870-2017," CEPR Discussion Papers 13465, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Richard S. Grossman, 2015. "Bloody foreigners! Overseas equity on the London Stock Exchange, 1869–1929," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 471-521, May.
    6. Georges Prat & David Le Bris, 2019. "Equity Risk Premium and Time Horizon: what do the French secular data say ?," EconomiX Working Papers 2019-8, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    7. Chambers, David & Esteves, Rui, 2014. "The first global emerging markets investor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust 1880–1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-21.
    8. Grossman, Richard, 2017. "Stocks for the Long Run: New Monthly Indices of British Equities, 1869-1929," CEPR Discussion Papers 12121, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Annaert, Jan & Mensah, Lord, 2014. "Cross-sectional predictability of stock returns, evidence from the 19th century Brussels Stock Exchange (1873–1914)," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 22-43.
    10. Bekaert, Geert & Mehl, Arnaud, 2019. "On the global financial market integration “swoosh” and the trilemma," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 227-245.
    11. William Quinn, 2019. "Squeezing the bears: cornering risk and limits on arbitrage during the ‘British bicycle mania’, 1896–8," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1286-1311, November.
    12. Grossman, Richard, 2017. "Beresford's Revenge: British equity holdings in Latin America, 1869-1929," CEPR Discussion Papers 12042, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Maxime Merli & Antoine Parent & Cécile Edlinger, 2021. "Portfolio advice before modern portfolio theory: The Belle Epoque of French analyst Alfred Neymarck," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(7), pages 1197-1221, September.
    14. Claessens, Stijn & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2007. "International financial integration through equity markets: Which firms from which countries go global?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 788-813, September.
    15. Degenhardt, Thomas & Auer, Benjamin R., 2018. "The “Sell in May” effect: A review and new empirical evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 169-205.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5uiggte9218fho46bb53jr7m8a is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Jérémie Cohen‐Setton & Joshua K. Hausman & Johannes F. Wieland, 2017. "Supply‐Side Policies in the Depression: Evidence from France," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2-3), pages 273-317, March.
    18. Raphaël Hekimian, 2017. "The French banking sector during the interwar: What lessons can be drawn from the stock market?," EconomiX Working Papers 2017-3, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    19. Kuvshinov, Dmitry & Zimmermann, Kaspar, 2020. "The Big Bang: Stock Market Capitalization in the Long Run," CEPR Discussion Papers 14468, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. O’Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj, 2019. "Economic History and Contemporary Challenges to Globalization," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 356-382, June.
    21. David le Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Sébastien Pouget, 2014. "Testing Asset Pricing Theory on Six Hundred Years of Stock Returns: Prices and Dividends for the Bazacle Company from 1372 to 1946," NBER Working Papers 20199, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    stock returns; interest rates; Gold Standard;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:irn:wpaper:22-02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/irenech.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rebecca Stuart (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/irenech.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.