We investigate monthly returns of Belgian stocks listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange in the period 1838-2010. Our sample covers all stocks in the market over the entire period. Stock returns strongly depend on dividend income: real capital appreciation tends to be negative. Stocks were less...

We investigate corporate bond returns for the period 1838-1939 by using a unique new sample from the Brussels Stock Exchange. The value-weighted annualized total rate of return, net of defaults and taxes, is 4.33% in nominal terms and 2.81% in real terms. Estimates of average returns show that...