Market valuations in the New Economy: an investigation of what has changed

We find mixed support for the hypothesis that a "New Economy" subperiod occurred in the late 1990s in which the relation between equity value-and traditional financial variables differs from previous periods. We examine a regression model of equity value on financial variables over 25 years for a broad firm sample and for firm subsamples thought to be emblematic of the New Economy. We find the regression model's explanatory power declined in the New Economy subperiod for all firm subsamples. However, for all subsamples, the regression model's structure during the New Economy subperiod is not unusual compared to other subperiods. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved..