The latest annual Global Investment Returns Yearbook, published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute together with the London Business School, has assessed return expectations in the current low yield environment.

The research also looked at claims that equity returns revert to the mean over time, and if so, to what extent investors could take advantage of this change.

Giles Keating, head of Research for Private Banking and Wealth Management at Credit Suisse, said: "The Yearbook uses well over 100 years of data to show just how exceptional the current negative real yields on fixed income assets are. This causes stress for savers - but it also makes equities look much more attractive than bonds."

Stefano Natella, head of Global Equity Research at Credit Suisse, said: "The Yearbook has a strong track record of identifying important issues for investment strategy, and of drawing out guidance for investors leveraging a proprietary set of long historical data. This year's publication with its focus on mean-reversion provides timely insights for long-term investors."

The Yearbook comprises three articles, together with profiles of 22 national and regional markets and covers the five main asset classes, with an annual data set running from 1900 to the present.

Austria has been added to the Yearbook in this edition, along with China and Russia - two markets where investors lost everything in 1949 and 1917 respectively.

To view the Yearbook click here: 2013 Yearbook