Disruptive Dependency Theory and the Equity Premium Puzzle : A New Answer to the Equity Premium Puzzle

The equity premium puzzle, properly termed the American Equity Premium Puzzle, is one of the most significant empirical anomalies in finance, as it pertains to the observation that the expected return on equities has been consistently higher than that of bonds for many years, and that this premium is excessive. This paper presents one answer to the Equity Premium Puzzle, viz., the Disruptive Dependency Theory. The Disruptive Dependency Theory states that the world can be viewed in terms of “core” and “periphery” nations. Thus, there is a "core" set of nations in the world that are strong and a "periphery" that is relatively weak. This has been the state of the world since the end of the Second World War. The nations in the "core" are the strong nations. This includes the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom. What constitutes the "periphery" is a bit nebulous, but certainly the weakest nations such as island nations (Vanuatu, Togo, Jamaica, Antigua & Barbuda) belong the periphery. The nations in the core use the following to exert their influence on the nations in the periphery: (a) political strategies; (b) economic strategies; (c) social and cultural strategies; (d) technological strategies. Disruptive innovation has emerged as one of the chief strategies. With the rise of disruptive innovation, they are able to "disrupt" existing business in a very large number of periphery nations, thereby a very small number of individuals are becoming super-rich billionaires while the rest of the world remains still quite poor. According to this theory, it is the power differential of nations that historically resulted in the equity premium for stocks being excessively high