Up syndrome

Many intuitively believe that the stock markets generally go up with time. This is based on the general presumption that productivity and wealth per capita are increasing over time. Reality checks in Japan (markets currently at 1985 levels) and the US (currently at 1998 levels) have dampened this optimism. More importantly, this belief system has been reversed, many now assuming that markets can only go down in the long term. A recent study from a leading economics school demonstrated that...