Financial Markets in the Face of the Apocalypse

Abstract

This paper brings together two strands of the literature: Quantifying the impact of apocalyptic risk on capital markets, and the correct computation of the equity risk premium. For the former, we use events in four countries during the Second World War to discern markets' incorporation of information regarding the probability of an Armageddon for each country.

We argue that past computations equity risk premium did not properly account for the financial implications of political collapse on property/civil/human rights. Accordingly, we show that past calculations overstated the equity risk premium. We provide an estimate of the equity risk premium that is corrected for lack of basic rights, demonstrating the important changes in this estimate over time.

Keywords: Rare events, Black swan events, Equity premium, International political crises, Property rights, Civil and human rights, World War II

JEL Classification: G11, G12, G15