Stocks and bonds during the gold standard

•Inflation obscures the impact of other economic factors on stock-bond correlations.•In this article, the stock-bond correlations during the Gold Standard are studied.•The stock-bond correlation is negatively affected by interest rate volatility.•Financial and political shocks result in a general flight-to-safety effect.

This article assesses the dynamic stock-bond correlations in the absence of inflation by studying the French market during the Gold Standard. We find that the correlation was higher than what is currently observed, and negatively affected by interest rate volatility.