Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 11:33 pm
This result surprised me at first. I had initially thought expansion would have waited until the babies reached their peak earning/investing years. However, it makes sense in that people would be encouraged by improving economic and world conditions to have more children. The improved conditions would soon lead to expanded P/E ratios. This may not be a case where the births caused expanded ratios, but rather both birth rate and P/E ratios are responding to the same trend of improving economic outlook. Thanks for the observation John. It gives me food for more thought....with the number of live births occurring about 10 years before anything shows up in E10.
Yes it did, despite a growing population. I may have to figure out a way to adjust for improved life expectency plus immigration. However, the results so far are still interesting.The birth rate declined gradually throughout the last century.