Constructing a GDP-based Index for Use as Benchmark

Ruben Cohen (rubendcohen@yahoo.co.uk)

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The gross domestic product [GDP] is a fundamental economic indicator that is frequently used as a benchmark for local equity indices. The widespread appeal of this association is understandable because an equity index, especially if broad, could, like the GDP, also manifest the state of the economy. At the same time, however, the validity of a direct relation between the two is debatable since the GDP is known to be characteristically different from the typical equity index, however broad. In this work, we review some of the key elements that separate the GDP from a typical broad equity index in order to explain why the two cannot be compared directly with each other. We then incorporate a readily available mapping technique to create a GDP-based index that circumvents their inherent disparities and, thus, enable us to benchmark one against the other.

Keywords: GDP; equity index; benchmark; relative valuation; duration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18390/1/MPRA_paper_18390.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:18390

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter (winter@lmu.de).