Thanks are due to Hendrik Houthakker and Christopher Sims, for both encouragement and advice in developing this paper. As usual, all remaining errors are my own. This research was supported by a Harvard Dissertation Fellowship, NSF grant 33-708, and the

In the setting of ‘‘affine’ ’ jump-diffusion state processes, this paper provides an analytical treatment of a class of transforms, including various Laplace and Fourier transforms as special cases, that allow an analytical treatment of a range of valuation and econometric problems. Example

stock return dynamics can be described by a stochastic process with a continuous sample path. In this paper, an option pricing formula is derived for the more-general cast when the underlying stock returns are gcncrated by a mixture of both continuous and jump processes. The derived formula has most

This paper studi equlibriam asset price processes in a pure exchange economy with a single representative agent. A general approach is presented to characterize equilibrium asset price processes within the class of diffusion processes. By exploiting the equilibrium condition

This paper examines the structure of option valuation problems and develops a new technique for their solution. It also introduces several jump and diffusion processes which have nol been used in previous models. The technique is applied lo these processes to find explicit option valuation formulas

volatility of 20 % and subsequently a lower one, computed by a forward relationship to accommodate the one-year volatility. We now have a single process, compatible with the two option prices. From the term structure of implied volatilities we can infer a time-dependent instantaneous volatility, because

This paper presents a consistent and arbitrage-free multifactor model of the term structure of interest rates in which yields at selected fixed maturities follow a parametric multivariate Markov diffusion process with “stochastic volatility. ” The yield of any zero-coupon bond is taken to be a

The paper derives a general form of the term structure of interest rates. The following assumptions are made: (A.l) The instantaneous (spot) interest rate follows a diffusion process; (A.2) the price of a discount bond depends only on the spot rate over its term; and (A.3) the market is efficient

Volatility permeates modern financial theories and decision making processes. As such, accurate measures and good forecasts of future volatility are critical for the implementation and evaluation of asset and derivative pricing theories as well as trading and hedging strategies. In response to this

applicable in path-dependent and multifactor situations where traditional finite difference techniques cannot be used. We illustrate this technique with several realistic exatnples including valuing an option when the underlying asset follows a jump-diffusion process and valuing an America11 swaption in a 20