Equities
Hi d53,
But other aspects have changed in favour of equities, surely. For instance, corporate regulation and governance was non-existent at the time of Imperial Russian, and financial reporting was undeveloped, to say the least.
I know, I know, financial reporting and corporate governance didn't do much to protect investors in Enron, Tyco, etc, but it was presumably a good deal easier to scam investors a hundred years ago than it is now.
I'm not sure I entirely agree with you on survivorship bias, either, although I see your point. But if US and UK investors were unrepresented in the Imperial Russian equity market, then eliminating it from your analysis of how their assets performed doesn't give rise to any inaccuracy.