Elroy Dimson is professor of finance and cofounder and chairman of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. Paul Marsh is professor emeritus of finance at London Business School. Mike Staunton is professor emeritus of finance and director of the London Share Price Database at London Business School.
At the very least, this [book] suggests that the recent blind adherence to the cult of the equity needs to be questioned and that the strategic weighting of bonds in institutional portfolios should be increased. -- Philip Coggan Financial Times A model of how investor research should be carried out... Like most great books, Triumph of the Optimists has us saying 'Wow!' and 'Unbelievable!' with startling regularity... This is a book that belongs on every investor's bookshelf. -- Victor Niederhoffer and Laurel Kenner, Money columnists msn.com Connoisseurs of financial history will find plenty to enjoy in Triumph of the Optimists... The evidence produced by Mr. Dimson and his colleagues is striking, [and]... these issues are more than just academic... A provocative lesson. -- Matthew Lynn Financial Times By far the most important investment book in years...It is the best and most complete source of data yet available... If you spend an hour with it and don't learn anything worth the price then you're truly lousy at learning about markets... Right now, buying this book makes more sense than buying stocks. -- Ken Fisher Bloomberg Money A brilliant new book. -- Jason Zweig Time Our favorite book on global stock market performance... [It] epitomizes outstanding investment research... Unless intelligent life is discovered on another planet and a stock market is found to have been operating there for some centuries, it is unlikely that much new data can be brought to bear on the issue of long-run stock returns. Triumph of the Optimists may well be the last word on the subject for some time to come. Active Trader magazine