Changes in the Balance Sheet of the U.S. Manufacturing Sector, 1926-1977

Abstract

This is a report on the results of a research project, sponsored by the NBER's Program on Financial Markets and Monetary Economics, which involves the collection and organization of income account and balance sheet data, at the firm level, for the years 1926-77. The primary data source for the study is Moody's Industrial Manual. Working at the firm level, it is possible to obtain accurate information on the market values of traded securities.This paper presents and discusses some of the aggregate characteristics of the dataset and also reports the results of estimating a simple portfolio model which attempts to explain changes in firm balance sheet flows for the periods 1927-35 and 1965-77.The data collected for the study, as well as software necessary to manage them efficiently, are available from the authors. An NBER Technical Paper will shortly be available to describe the dataset and software in detail.