Equity premium puzzle

The equity premium puzzle is thought to be one of the most important outstanding questions in neoclassical economics. It is founded on the basis that over the last one hundred years or so the average real return to stocks in the US has been substantially higher than that of bonds. The puzzle lies in explaining the causes behind this equity premium. While there are a number of different theories regarding the puzzle, there still exists no definitive agreement on its cause.

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Source: List of unsolved problems in economics (CC BY-SA 4.0)