Existing evidence indicates that (i) average returns of purchased delta-hedged options are negative, implying options are expensive, and (ii) volatility is the most important extra risk that is factored into option prices. Therefore, a natural extension is to explain the cross-section of average...

Consider a non-spanned security C_T in an incomplete market. We study the risk/return trade-offs generated if this security is sold for an arbitrage-free price 'c0' and then hedged. We consider recursive one-period optimal self-financing hedging strategies, a simple but tractable criterion. For...

Although Bermudan options are routinely priced by simulation and least-squares methods using lower and dual upper bounds, the latter are hardly optimized. In this paper, we optimize recursive upper bounds, which are more tractable than the original/nonrecursive ones, and derive two new results:...

This paper explains the losses (or errors) associated with pricing an American option in a multi-factor setting when using the true model but a suboptimal exercise strategy as a barrier option (a calibrated misspecified model, e.g., Black-Scholes). Pricing American options in a multi-factor...

Least-squares methods enable us to price Bermudan-style options by Monte Carlo simulation. They are based on estimating the option continuation value by least squares. We show that the Bermudan price is maximized when this continuation value is estimated near the exercise boundary, which is...

In a default corridor [0,B] that the stock price can never enter, a deep out-of-the-money American put replicates a pure credit contract (Carr and Wu, 2011). Assuming discrete (one-period-ahead predictable) cash flows, we show an endogenous credit-risk model generates, along with the default...

When firms roll over bonds of different maturity, their debt-maturity structure can feature both shorter and longer maturity in bad times. We link these debt-maturity patterns to the firms' fundamentals, assuming earnings are deterministically declining but the same firm is subject to a growth...

We introduce a new distance-to-default (DD) measure based on observable covariates, allowing us to bypass any model-based inference (e.g., Merton, 1974), that works well. It is based on the following result: The default event defined by endogenous credit-risk models, a sufficiently low asset...

The value of American options depends on the exercise policy followed by option holders. Market frictions, risk aversion, a misspecified model, or an inaccurate algorithm can result in suboptimal behavior. We study the sensitivity of American options to suboptimal exercise strategies. We show...

We study a firm's debt-maturity policy. The firm, keeping book leverage constant, rolls over expiring debt by newly issuing short- or long-term bonds, which pay different coupons. In equilibrium, we always find two balanced issuance regimes, which are associated with one type of debt: In bad...