NEW INDICES OF BRITISH EQUITY PRICES, 1870–1913

Abstract

This article presents new annual price indices of equities traded on British exchanges for the period 1870–1913, as a replacement for Smith and Horne's widely used index. The data set contains 40, 677 observations on 3, 103 securities issued by 2, 740 companies, providing substantially broader coverage of the market: from 520 to 1, 150 issues per year, compared with Smith and Horne's 25 to 77 securities. In addition, the data set contains information on shares outstanding, par values, and dividends, allowing the construction of weighted and unweighted return indices and price–dividend ratios. The new database suggests an agenda for further research.