Continuous Time Asset Pricing Models In Applied Stochastic Finance

Stochastic finance and financial engineering have been rapidly expanding fields of science over the past four decades, mainly due to the success of sophisticated quantitative methodologies in helping professionals manage financial risks. In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous acceleration in research efforts aimed at better comprehending, modeling and hedging this kind of risk. These two volumes aim to provide a foundation course on applied stochastic finance. They are designed for three groups of readers: firstly, students of various backgrounds seeking a core knowledge on the subject of stochastic finance; secondly financial analysts and practitioners in the investment, banking and insurance industries; and finally other professionals who are interested in learning advanced mathematical and stochastic methods, which are basic knowledge in many areas, through finance. In Volume 2 we study continuous time models by presenting the necessary material from continuous martingales, measure theory and stochastic differential equations as models for various assets, such as the Wiener process, Brownian motion, etc. We then build, with many examples and intuitive explanations, the necessary stochastic analysis background i.e. Itô’s lemma, stochastic integration, Girsanovís theorem, etc. The book then guides the reader into the pricing of vanilla options in continuous time i.e. the continuous time models of Black and Scholes, followed by interest rate models and the models of Heath-Jarrow-Morton and the forward Libor model. The final part of the book presents the pricing of credit derivatives.

Stochastic finance and financial engineering have been rapidly expanding fields of science over the past four decades, mainly due to the success of sophisticated quantitative methodologies in helping professionals manage financial risks. In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous acceleration in research efforts aimed at better comprehending, modeling and hedging this kind of risk. These two volumes aim to provide a foundation course on applied stochastic finance. They are designed for three groups of readers: firstly, students of various backgrounds seeking a core knowledge on the subject of stochastic finance; secondly financial analysts and practitioners in the investment, banking and insurance industries; and finally other professionals who are interested in learning advanced mathematical and stochastic methods, which are basic knowledge in many areas, through finance. Volume 1 starts with the introduction of the basic financial instruments and the fundamental principles of financial modeling and arbitrage valuation of derivatives. Next, we use the discrete-time binomial model to introduce all relevant concepts. The mathematical simplicity of the binomial model also provides us with the opportunity to introduce and discuss in depth concepts such as conditional expectations and martingales in discrete time. However, we do not expand beyond the needs of the stochastic finance framework. Numerous examples, each highlighted and isolated from the text for easy reference and identification, are included. The book concludes with the use of the binomial model to introduce interest rate models and the use of the Markov chain model to introduce credit risk. This volume is designed in such a way that, among other uses, makes it useful as an undergraduate course.

Asset pricing theory yields deep insights into crucial market phenomena such as stock market bubbles. Now in a newly revised and updated edition, this textbook guides the reader through this theory and its applications to markets. The new edition features ​new results on state dependent preferences, a characterization of market efficiency and a more general presentation of multiple-factor models using only the assumptions of no arbitrage and no dominance. Taking an innovative approach based on martingales, the book presents advanced techniques of mathematical finance in a business and economics context, covering a range of relevant topics such as derivatives pricing and hedging, systematic risk, portfolio optimization, market efficiency, and equilibrium pricing models. For applications to high dimensional statistics and machine learning, new multi-factor models are given. This new edition integrates suicide trading strategies into the understanding of asset price bubbles, greatly enriching the overall presentation and further strengthening the book’s underlying theme of economic bubbles. Written by a leading expert in risk management, Continuous-Time Asset Pricing Theory is the first textbook on asset pricing theory with a martingale approach. Based on the author’s extensive teaching and research experience on the topic, it is particularly well suited for graduate students in business and economics with a strong mathematical background.

"A wonderful display of the use of mathematical probability to derive a large set of results from a small set of assumptions. In summary, this is a well-written text that treats the key classical models of finance through an applied probability approach....It should serve as an excellent introduction for anyone studying the mathematics of the classical theory of finance." --SIAM

Robert C. Merton's widely-used text provides an overview and synthesis of finance theory from the perspective of continuous-time analysis. It covers individual finance choice, corporate finance, financial intermediation, capital markets, and selected topics on the interface between private and public finance.

A comprehensive overview of the theory of stochastic processes and its connections to asset pricing, accompanied by some concrete applications. This book presents a self-contained, comprehensive, and yet concise and condensed overview of the theory and methods of probability, integration, stochastic processes, optimal control, and their connections to the principles of asset pricing. The book is broader in scope than other introductory-level graduate texts on the subject, requires fewer prerequisites, and covers the relevant material at greater depth, mainly without rigorous technical proofs. The book brings to an introductory level certain concepts and topics that are usually found in advanced research monographs on stochastic processes and asset pricing, and it attempts to establish greater clarity on the connections between these two fields. The book begins with measure-theoretic probability and integration, and then develops the classical tools of stochastic calculus, including stochastic calculus with jumps and Lévy processes. For asset pricing, the book begins with a brief overview of risk preferences and general equilibrium in incomplete finite endowment economies, followed by the classical asset pricing setup in continuous time. The goal is to present a coherent single overview. For example, the text introduces discrete-time martingales as a consequence of market equilibrium considerations and connects them to the stochastic discount factors before offering a general definition. It covers concrete option pricing models (including stochastic volatility, exchange options, and the exercise of American options), Merton's investment–consumption problem, and several other applications. The book includes more than 450 exercises (with detailed hints). Appendixes cover analysis and topology and computer code related to the practical applications discussed in the text.

Stochastic Finance: An Introduction with Market Examples presents an introduction to pricing and hedging in discrete and continuous time financial models without friction, emphasizing the complementarity of analytical and probabilistic methods. It demonstrates both the power and limitations of mathematical models in finance, covering the basics of finance and stochastic calculus, and builds up to special topics, such as options, derivatives, and credit default and jump processes. It details the techniques required to model the time evolution of risky assets. The book discusses a wide range of classical topics including Black–Scholes pricing, exotic and American options, term structure modeling and change of numéraire, as well as models with jumps. The author takes the approach adopted by mainstream mathematical finance in which the computation of fair prices is based on the absence of arbitrage hypothesis, therefore excluding riskless profit based on arbitrage opportunities and basic (buying low/selling high) trading. With 104 figures and simulations, along with about 20 examples based on actual market data, the book is targeted at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, either as a course text or for self-study, in applied mathematics, financial engineering, and economics.

Developed for the professional Master's program in Computational Finance at Carnegie Mellon, the leading financial engineering program in the U.S. Has been tested in the classroom and revised over a period of several years Exercises conclude every chapter; some of these extend the theory while others are drawn from practical problems in quantitative finance