ICF Financial History Data

Did you know…?

The ICF is one of the leading centers of research on the history of finance. The following historical financial research data sets are housed on the ICF website and available to scholars affiliated with the Center:

Cowles Data

The Cowles Commission for Research in Economics is a not-for-profit corporation, founded in 1932 for the purpose of conducting and encouraging investigations into economic problems. The purpose of Cowles Commission common-stock indexes is to portray the average experience of those investing in this class of security in the United States from 1871 to 1938.

Greenbacks

During the first year of the US Civil War, the conversion of bank or Treasury notes into gold was suspended. In accordance to the Legal Tender Acts in 1862, the government issued an inconvertible currency called ‘Greenbacks’. This database includes the high and low daily price for Greenbacks in gold from 1 January 1862 to 31 December 1878. The data is explained in the paper: "Turning Points in the Civil War: Views from the Greenback Market." (by Kristen L. Willard, Timothy W. Guinnane, and Harvey S. Rosen). American Economic Review 86(4): 1001-1018, 1996."

London Stock Exchange Project

The Investors Monthly Manual, a record of The London Exchange, exists in hard copy for the period from 1871 to 1930, the peak of the colonial era. The London market was the most active market in the world at this time, trading not only domestic securities, but sovereign debt from all over the world as well as the equity and debt of foreign companies. The IMM records prices, dividends and capitalization, as well as other potentially useful information. The articles in the IMM detail issues of current interest to investors over the 70-year period.

New York Stock Exchange Project

The NYSE History Research Project is an on-going research effort by the International Center for Finance to collect price and dividend information on NYSE stocks from the beginning of the exchange to the present, for analysis of long-term trends and performance.

Shanghai Stock Exchange Project

The Shanghai Stock Exchange History Research Project is an on-going research effort by the International Center for Finance to collect price and dividend information on stocks that were listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) during the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

St. Petersburg Stock Exchange Project

The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange History Research Project is an on-going research effort by the International Center for Finance to collect price and dividend information on stocks that were listed in the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange (SPSE) during the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

South Sea Bubble 1720 Project

The South Sea Bubble 1720 Project is a collection of stock prices for  a large number of the traded companies in 1720.  These include Dutch firms quoted in markets in the Netherlands, British firms quoted in the Netherlands,  and some previously unstudied  British firms quoted in London.

For more about the ICF’s historical financial research data sets, click here.