Summary We introduce a class of optimal stopping problems in which the gain is at least a fraction of the initial value. From a financial point of view this structure can be seen as a guarantee for the holder of an American option. It turns out that the optimal strategies are of two-sided type...

The principles of smooth and continuous pasting play an important role in the study of optimal stopping problems with jump processes. These principles state that the optimal stopping boundary is selected so that the value function is smooth and continuous, respectively (depending on the behavior...

Markov chains have experienced a surge of economic interest in the form of behavioral agent-based models that aim at explaining the statistical regularities of financial returns. We review some of the relevant mathematical facts and show how they apply to agent-based herding models, with the...

We find that the empirical density of firm profit rates, measured as returns on assets, is markedly non-Gaussian and reasonably well described by an exponential power (or Subbotin) distribution. We start from a statistical equilibrium model that leads to a stationary Subbotin density in the...