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The Stock Market: Beyond Risk Lies Uncertainity

ENDNOTES

1

This is the title of what is perhaps the best-known chapter in Knight's book "Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit."

2

See Barnes (2001) for an article on this topic.

3

The baffling difference between survival and maximizing the expected value of final wealth is known as the St. Petersburg Paradox.

4

The data are from Ibbotson Associates (2002).

5

For a summary of the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances, see Kennickell, Starr-McCluer and Surette (2000).

6

Revising up the subjective probability of tails coming up on the next flip after a run of heads is known as the gambler's fallacy.

REFERENCES

Arnott, Robert D. and Bernstein, Peter L. "What Risk Premium is ‘Normal'?" Financial Analysts Journal. March/April 2002, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 64-85.

Balke, Nathan S. and Gordon, Robert J. "Appendix B: Historical Data" in: Robert J. Gordon, ed., The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 781-850.

Barnes, Julian E. "A Bicycling Mystery: Head Injuries Piling Up." The New York Times, July 29, 2001, p. 1, col. 3.

Buffett, Warren. "Warren Buffett on the Stock Market," with Carol Loomis, Fortune Investor's Guide 2002, Dec. 10, 2001, pp. 80-94.

Campbell, John Y. and Shiller, Robert J. "Valuation Ratios and the Long-Run Stock Market Outlook: An Update." Working Paper 8221, National Bureau of Economic Research. <http://nber.org/papers/w8221>.

Dimson, Elroy; Marsh, Paul; and Staunton, Mike. Triumph of the Optimists: 101 Years of Global Investment Returns. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Ibbotson Associates. Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation. 2002 Yearbook. Chicago: Ibbotson Associates, 2002.

Kennickell, Arthur B.; Starr-McCluer, Martha; and Surette, Brian J. "Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Results from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances." Federal Reserve Bulletin, January 2000, Vol. 86, pp. 1-29, <http://www.federalreserve.gov>.

Knight, Frank H. Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921. Online edition: <http://www.econlib.org/library/Knight/ knRUP.html>.

Lowenstein, Roger. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management. New York: Random House, 2000.

Shleifer, Andrei. Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Siegel, Jeremy J. Stocks for the Long Run: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies. 2nd ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.

Smith, Edgar L. Common Stocks as Long Term Investments. New York: MacMillan, 1924.