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How the Wealth Was Won: Factor Shares as Market Fundamentals

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  • Lettau, Martin
  • Ludvigson, Sydney
  • Greenwald, Dan

Abstract

We provide novel evidence on the driving forces behind the sharp increase in equity values over the post-war era. From the beginning of 1989 to the end of 2017, 23 trillion dollars of real equity wealth was created by the nonfinancial corporate sector. We estimate that 54% of this increase was attributable to a reallocation of rents to shareholders in a decelerating economy. Economic growth accounts for just 24%, followed by lower interest rates (11%) and a lower risk premium (11%). From 1952 to 1988 less than half as much wealth was created, but economic growth accounted for 92% of it.

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  • Lettau, Martin & Ludvigson, Sydney & Greenwald, Dan, 2019. "How the Wealth Was Won: Factor Shares as Market Fundamentals," CEPR Discussion Papers 14200, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14200
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    3. Leila Davis & Shane McCormack, 2021. "Industrial stagnation and the financialization of nonfinancial corporations," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 459-491, December.
    4. ADACHI Daisuke & SAITO Yukiko, 2020. "Multinational Production and Labor Share," Discussion papers 20012, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Juan M. Morelli, 2021. "Limited Participation in Equity Markets and Business Cycles," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-026, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Luis Buluz & Filip Novokmet & Moritz Schularick, 2022. "The Anatomy of the Global Saving Glut," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03881419, HAL.
    7. Bandi, Federico M. & Bretscher, Lorenzo & Tamoni, Andrea, 2023. "Return predictability with endogenous growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(3).
    8. Benjamin Knox & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2022. "A Stock Return Decomposition Using Observables," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-014, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Robert N. Mefford, 2023. "The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Productivity Paradox," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 7(1), pages 11-18, November.
    10. Francesco Bianchi & Martin Lettau & Sydney C. Ludvigson, 2022. "Monetary Policy and Asset Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(2), pages 967-1017, April.
    11. Josue Cox & Daniel L. Greenwald & Sydney C. Ludvigson, 2020. "What Explains the COVID-19 Stock Market?," NBER Working Papers 27784, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Ren, Zhaomin & Zhang, Xuan & Zhang, Zhekai, 2021. "New evidence on COVID-19 and firm performance," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 213-225.
    13. Panageas, Stavros, 2020. "The Implications of Heterogeneity and Inequality for Asset Pricing," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 12(3), pages 199-275, November.
    14. Kuvshinov, Dmitry & Zimmermann, Kaspar, 2020. "The Expected Return on Risky Assets: International Long-run Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 15610, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Isabel Cairó & Jae W. Sim, 2020. "Market Power, Inequality, and Financial Instability," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-057, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    16. Meyer, Timothy Andreas, 2024. "Asset price changes, external wealth and global welfare," Kiel Working Papers 2264, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • 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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