In the framework of the classical Black and Scholes model of security market we present the explicit formulas of the minimal hedging portfolios for a number of reward processes of the ``classical'', lookback and Asian type. These results complement the solutions previously received by Mc~Kean,...

We develop a new approach to pricing and hedging contingent claims in incomplete markets. Mimicking as closely as possible in an incomplete markets framework the no--arbitrage arguments that have been developed in complete markets leads us to defining the concept of pseudo--arbitrage. Building...

Assuming constant interest rates Brennan and Schwartz (1976, 1979) obtained the rational insurance premium on an equity-linked insurance contract through the application of the theory of contingent claims pricing. Further considerations with deterministic interest rates have been discussed in...

This paper proposes a new explanation for the smile and skewness effects in implied volatilities. Starting from a microeconomic equilibrium approach, we develop a diffusion model for stock prices explicitly incorporating the technical demand induced by hedging strategies. This leads to a...

Let M(X) be a family of all equivalent local martingale measures for some locally bounded d-dimensional process X, and V be a positive process. Main result of the paper (Theorem 2.1) states that the process V is a supermartingale whatever Q in M(X), if and only if this process admits the...

The basic model of financial economics is the Samuelson model of geometric Brownian motion because of the celebrated Black-Scholes formula for pricing the call option. The asset volatility is a linear function of the asset value and the model guarantees positive asset prices. We show that the...

This paper examines the pricing of options by approximating extensions of the Black-Scholes setup in which volatility follows a separate diffusion process. It gereralizes the well-known binomial model, constructing a discrete two-dimensional lattice. We discuss convergence issues extensively and...

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of stochastic interest rates on the pricing of Asian options. It is shown that a stochastic, in contrast to a deterministic, development of the term structure of interest rates has a significant influence. The price of the underlying asset, e.g....

This paper presents the one- and the multifactor versions of a term structure model in which the factor dynamics are given by Cox/Ingersoll/Ross (CIR) type "square root" diffusions with piecewise constant parameters. The model is fitted to initial term structures given by a finite number of data...