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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 two to three times higher than any other period in American history (Officer, 1973; Wilson, Sylla, and Jones; 1990). We investigate the “volatility puzzle” using a new series of building permits, a forward-looking measure of economic activity. Our results suggest that the volatility of building permit growth largely explains the high level of stock volatility during the Great Depression. Markets factored in the possibility of a forthcoming economic disaster.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustavo S. Cortes & Marc D. Weidenmier, 2017. "Stock Volatility and the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 23554, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23554
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    Cited by:

    1. Calomiris, Charles W. & Jaremski, Matthew, 2023. "Florida (Un)chained," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Olkhov, Victor, 2022. "Economic Policy - the Forth Dimension of the Economic Theory," MPRA Paper 112685, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Jean-Laurent Cadorel, 2023. "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.

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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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