Three experts provide an authoritative guide to the theory and practice of derivatives Derivatives: Theory and Practice and its companion website explore the practical uses of derivatives and offer a guide to the key results on pricing, hedging and speculation using derivative securities. The book links the theoretical and practical aspects of derivatives in one volume whilst keeping mathematics and statistics to a minimum. Throughout the book, the authors put the focus on explanations and applications. Designed as an engaging resource, the book contains commentaries that make serious points in a lighthearted manner. The authors examine the real world of derivatives finance and include discussions on a wide range of topics such as the use of derivatives by hedge funds and the application of strip and stack hedges by corporates, while providing an analysis of how risky the stock market can be for long-term investors, and more. To enhance learning, each chapter contains learning objectives, worked examples, details of relevant finance blogs technical appendices and exercises.
Updated and revised to reflect the most current information, this introduction to futures and options markets is ideal for those with a limited background in mathematics. Based on Hull's Options, Futures and Other Derivatives, one of the best-selling books on Wall Street, this book presents an accessible overview of the topic without the use of calculus. Packed with numerical samples and accounts of real-life situations, the Fifth Edition effectively guides readers through the material while providing them with a host of tangible examples. For professionals with a career in futures and options markets, financial engineering and/or risk management.
The term Financial Derivative is a very broad term which has come to mean any financial transaction whose value depends on the underlying value of the asset concerned. Sophisticated statistical modelling of derivatives enables practitioners in the banking industry to reduce financial risk and ultimately increase profits made from these transactions. The book originally published in March 2000 to widespread acclaim. This revised edition has been updated with minor corrections and new references, and now includes a chapter of exercises and solutions, enabling use as a course text. Comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of financial derivatives. Discusses and elaborates on the theory of interest rate derivatives, an area of increasing interest. Divided into two self-contained parts ? the first concentrating on the theory of stochastic calculus, and the second describes in detail the pricing of a number of different derivatives in practice. Written by well respected academics with experience in the banking industry. A valuable text for practitioners in research departments of all banking and finance sectors. Academic researchers and graduate students working in mathematical finance.
Uncertain Futures considers how economic actors visualize the future and decide how to act in conditions of radical uncertainty. It starts from the premise that dynamic capitalist economies are characterized by relentless innovation and novelty and hence exhibit an indeterminacy that cannot be reduced to measurable risk. The organizing question then becomes how economic actors form expectations and make decisions despite the uncertainty they face. This edited volume lays the foundations for a new model of economic reasoning by showing how, in conditions of uncertainty, economic actors combine calculation with imaginaries and narratives to form fictional expectations that coordinate action and provide the confidence to act. It draws on groundbreaking research in economic sociology, economics, anthropology, and psychology to present theoretically grounded empirical case studies. These demonstrate how grand narratives, central bank forward guidance, economic forecasts, finance models, business plans, visions of technological futures, and new era stories influence behaviour and become instruments of power in markets and societies. The market impact of shared calculative devices, social narratives, and contingent imaginaries underlines the rationale for a new form of narrative economics.
A rigorous but practical introduction to the economic, financial, and political principles underlying commodity markets. Commodities have become one of the fastest growing asset classes of the last decade and the object of increasing attention from investors, scholars, and policy makers. Yet existing treatments of the topic are either too theoretical, ignoring practical realities, or largely narrative and nonrigorous. This book bridges the gap, striking a balance between theory and practice. It offers a solid foundation in the economic, financial, and political principles underlying commodities markets. The book, which grows out of courses taught by the author at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, can be used by graduate students in economics, finance, and public policy, or as a conceptual reference for practitioners. After an introduction to basic concepts and a review of the various types of commodities—energy, metals, agricultural products—the book delves into the economic and financial dynamics of commodity markets, with a particular focus on energy. The text covers fundamental demand and supply for resources, the mechanics behind commodity financial markets, and how they motivate investment decisions around both physical and financial portfolio exposure to commodities, and the evolving political and regulatory landscape for commodity markets. Additional special topics include geopolitics, financial regulation, and electricity markets. The book is divided into thematic modules that progress in complexity. Text boxes offer additional, related material, and numerous charts and graphs provide further insight into important concepts.
What is finance? What questions does it principally concern itself with answering? What are the underpinnings of the means by which it attempts to answer those questions? And what conclusions does it reach? Written with the thoughtful reader in mind, and in a manner not requiring any prior familiarity with finance or economics, this book addresses these important fundamental questions. While not written as a how-to guide to investing, in general or in specific asset classes or marketplaces, the thoughtful reader will come away with a widely applicable conceptual framework as to how to think about doing so in virtually any investment application. Its contents are those which underpin all such markets and, overtly or not, the actions of market participants across time. It is the foundation upon which our vast financial edifice is built. And, for these reasons, the book's two authors have found it to be a fascinating and worthwhile object of thought and attention for the past eighty combined years. The book is divided into two parts. The first, entitled "Foundations," spans the initial ten chapters and concerns itself with the theory that underpins virtually all financial markets, including: Default-Free and Risk-Free Assets; Mean-Variance Theory; the Capital Asset Pricing Model and its applications; Arbitrage Pricing Theory; the Finite State Approach to Modern Finance; and Valuation. The second part, entitled "Markets," explores these financial markets in detail by way of chapters individually dedicated to each, including: stock markets; bond markets; money markets; asset backed securities; futures and forward contracts; currency markets; options; swaps; and hedge and private equity funds. The book concludes with the exploration of select paradoxes in modern finance, with explanations proffered for their existence and perpetuation.
A diverse group of scholars redefine constructionism--introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980--in light of new technologies and theories. Constructionism, first introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980, is a framework for learning to understand something by making an artifact for and with other people. A core goal of constructionists is to respect learners as creators, to enable them to engage in making meaning for themselves through construction, and to do this by democratizing access to the world's most creative and powerful tools. In this volume, an international and diverse group of scholars examine, reconstruct, and evolve the constructionist paradigm in light of new technologies and theories.
"Over the past two decades, the mathematically complex models of finance theory have had a direct and wide-ranging influence on finance practice. Nowhere is this conjoining of intrinsic intellectual interest with extrinsic application better exemplified than in derivative-security pricing. The backgrounds of the authors of Options, Futures and Exotic Derivatives fit perfectly this pattern of combining theory and practice and so does their book. The range and depth of subject matter show excellent taste for what is essential to know the field and what is relevant and important to its application in the financial world. In addition to its fine subject-defining, the book delivers on subject-content, with rigorous derivations presented in a clear, direct voice for the serious student, whether academic or practitioner. To the reader: Bon Appetit!" Robert C. Merton, Harvard Business School Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. "One of the merits of this book is that it is self-contained. It is both a textbook and a reference book. It covers the basics of the theory, as well as the techniques for valuation of many of the more exotic derivatives. It contains a detailed knowledge of the field. What is more, however, it is written with a deep understanding of the economics of finance." From the Foreword by Oldrich Alfons Vasicek "The authors have done an admirable job at distilling what is relevant in option research in one single volume. I wish I'd had the chance to read it before writing my own book." Nassim Taleb, veteran option arbitrageur and bestselling author of Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options "This is a delightful promenade in derivatives land. The book is encyclopaedic yet crisp and inspired. It is the story - told in equations - of the charms and spells of options and their underlying mathematics." Jamil Baz, Head of Financial Strategies, Lehman Brothers Europe Building steadily from the basic mathematical tools to the very latest techniques in exotic options, Options, Futures and Exotic Derivatives covers all aspects of the most innovative and rapidly developing area of international financial markets - the world of over-the-counter and tailor-made derivative asset pricing. Written by a globally renowned team of authors this book offers comprehensive coverage of exotic derivative assets and * Deals with numerous new forms of exotic options and option pricing * Provides detailed explanations of different models and numerical methods * Offers a deep understanding of the economics of finance With questions and review sections throughout, Options, Futures and Exotic Derivatives provides a thorough introduction to a crucial and expanding area in the world of finance for both finance students and practitioners.
"The World Scientific Handbook of Futures Markets serves as a definitive source for comprehensive and accessible information in futures markets. The emphasis is on the unique characteristics of futures markets that make them worthy of a special volume. In our judgment, futures markets are currently undergoing remarkable changes as trading is shifting from open outcry to electronic and as the traditional functions of hedging and speculation are extended to include futures as an alternative investment vehicle in traditional portfolios. The unique feature of this volume is the selection of five classic papers that lay the foundations of the futures markets and the invitation to the leading academics who do work in the area to write critical surveys in a dozen important topics."--$cProvided by publisher.