Stats Long run returns Survivorship bias

Survivorship bias costs 10 to 70 basis points a year

StudyBias, percentage points a year
DMS world0.1
J&G all mkts0.29
J&G non-US0.7
US vs median3.52

The three figures measure different indices over different periods with different weightings. The 3.5 point US against median gap is not a bias estimate, and it is the largest number here. Sources: Jorion and Goetzmann, and Dimson, Marsh and Staunton.

Long run stock returns come only from markets that still exist. Correcting for the ones that closed moves the figure by ten to seventy basis points a year. The larger distortion is that the market everyone quotes, the US, was the best of thirty nine.

39Markets studied
10 to 70 basis pointsSurvivorship effect
4.32%US real return, annualised
0.80%Median market, annualised

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