There has been a sharp fall in the number of listed stocks in the US since 1996 with listings falling by roughly 50% in the US over the past two decades compared to growth of 50% in other developed countries notes Michael Mauboussin in his March 22 research note “The Incredible Shrinking Universe Of Stocks.”
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Mauboussin writes that today there are few unlisted companies in the US than there were in 1976, despite the fact that the gross domestic product is three times larger now than it was then. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, established in the mid-1970s to...

