TABLE III

Annual Rates of Return on Alternative Investments, 1930-76 (Nominal Returns)

Series	Mean	Standard Deviation	Standard Error	# Years with Negative Returns	Mean Annual Loss^a	Highest Annual Return (year)	Lowest Annual Return (year)
Common Stocks	13.05	18.95	3.65	7	11.46	52.62 (1954)	-26.48 (1974)
Commodity Futures with T-Bills	13.83	22.43	4.32	7	2.87	101.54 (1973)	-6.32 (1953)
Long Term Government Bonds	2.94	6.53	1.26	9	3.86	16.75 (1976)	-9.19 (1967)
US T-Bills	2.63	1.95	0.38	0	-	8.00 (1974)	0.86 (1954)
Rate of Inflation	3.43	2.90	0.56	1	-	12.20 (1974)	-0.50 (1954)

Annual Rates of Return on Alternative Investments, 1930-76 (Nominal Returns)

Series	Mean	Standard Deviation	Standard Error	# Years with Negative Returns	Mean Annual Loss^a	Highest Annual Return (year)	Lowest Annual Return (year)
Common Stocks	9.58	19.65	3.78	9	13.11	53.37 (1954)	-34.79 (1974)
Commodity Futures with T-Bills	9.81	19.44	3.74	11	3.64	85.24 (1973)	-10.30 (1975)
Long Term Government Bonds	-0.31	6.81	1.31	12	6.55	12.11 (1960)	-11.90 (1967)
US T-Bills	0.22	1.80	0.35	7	2.41	2.32 (1964)	-4.39 (1950)

Annual Rates of Return on Alternative Investments, 1930-76 (Excess Returns^c)

Series	Mean	Standard Deviation	Standard Error	# Years with Negative Returns	Mean Annual Loss^a	Highest Annual Return (year)	Lowest Annual Return (year)
Common Stocks	9.42	20.12	3.87	9	3.21	51.76 (1954)	-34.48 (1974)
Commodity Futures with T-Bills	9.77	21.39	4.12	13	3.91	91.59 (1973)	-10.05 (1975)
Long Term Government Bonds	-0.79	6.43	1.24	17	4.73	11.67 (1976)	-13.40 (1967)

a The mean annual loss is defined as the sum of the annual losses (negative rates of return) divided by the
number of years in which losses occurred.

b The real rate of return, R_r is defined by: (1+R_n)/(1+i) -1 where R_n is the nominal rate of return and i is the rate of inflation as measured by the proportional change in the Consumer Price Index.

c The excess return is the difference between the nominal rate of return and the Treasury bill rate