Are equities always the best investment for the long run? It is the message that is usually sold to individual investors. The message is based on theory; equities are riskier than government bonds so should offer a higher return (the equity risk premium, in the jargon) to compensate investors. And the message seems to be borne out in practice, most of the time.
But there is an important caveat. Much of the data quoted by investment advisers is based on America, which is something of an outlier; it turned out to be the most successful economy of the 20th century but that was not guaranteed in advance. An investor in 1900 might have picked Germany as a rising power, only to see their assets wiped out in the 1920s hyperinflation and the Second World War; they might have picked Argentina, which was a perpetual disappointment. In other countries, there have been very long periods in which equities have not been a great investment.
The Economist