riority of equities relative to other financial assets was decisive in all
countries.
The average annual real stock, bond, and bill returns of the 16
countries analyzed from 1900 through 2006 are shown in Figure 1-6.^18
Real equity returns ranged from a low of 2.7 percent in Belgium to a
high of almost 8 percent in Sweden and Australia. Stock returns in the
United States, although quite good, were not exceptional. U.S. stock re-
turns were exceeded by the returns in Sweden, Australia, and South
Africa. And the average real-world return on stocks is not far from the
U.S. return.CHAPTER 1 Stock and Bond Returns Since 1802 19
FIGURE 1–6
Average Annual Real Stock, Bond, and Bill Returns of the 16 Countries Analyzed from 1900 through
December 2006SOURCE: Based on information from Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, and Michael Staunton, Triumph of the Optimists: 101
Years of Global Investment Returns, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002).
(^18) Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, and Mike Staunton, “Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2007,”
ABN-AMRO Bank NV, February 2007.