Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, and Mike Staunton wrote in their book Triumph of the Optimists that of 15 countries that have advanced economies today, the US stock market ranked fourth in its rate of return between 1900 and 2000, behind Australia, Sweden, and South Africa. The geometric average real return of the US stock market was 6.7%, but the median geometric real return for the other countries was only 4.7%.