PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Edward F McQuarrie TI - The Myth of 1926: <em>How Much Do We Know About Long-Term Returns on U.S. Stocks?</em> AID - 10.3905/JOI.2009.18.4.096 DP - 2009 Nov 30 TA - The Journal of Investing PG - 96--106 VI - 18 IP - 4 4099 - https://pm-research.com/content/18/4/96.short 4100 - https://pm-research.com/content/18/4/96.full AB - Investors are often told that the long-term return on U.S. stocks is a known quantity. Few realize that virtually all such statements are based on a data set that begins in 1926, and that because stock trading in the United States is much older, this dataset excludes more than half the total trading record. Even post-1926, certain types of stocks were systematically excluded, up until very recently. This article chronicles the biases and limitations of the post-1926 CRSP-Ibbotson dataset, and explains how these biases limit what is presently known about long-term returns on U.S. stocks.TOPICS: Performance measurement, exchanges/markets/clearinghouses, information providers/credit ratings