Unitized Risk and Real Rates of Return : A Historical Evolution of the Leading International Stock Exchanges

Financial markets have experienced unprecedented transformations, signs of which have emerged since the late 1970s. In recent years substantial consolidation occurred. In response to changes in macroeconomic variables, such as GDP, industrial production, inflation and the political business cycle, the institutional structure of stock exchanges has evolved in terms of economic performance. This paper compares the performances of financial markets and presents comparisons of the leading five stock exchanges by studying the evolution of the unitized risk values for real rates of return during the 1950-2012 time-period