This article reviews the literature on American-style derivatives. The presentation stresses some of the major developments in the field. The focus is on the determination of optimal exercise policies and the structure of derivatives’ prices. Illustrative examples highlight the complexity of...

In this paper we attempt to address, in a non‐technical way, the basic assumptions underlying option pricing theory and point out some of the inherent weaknesses they imply in the reliability of the resulting valuations. We present several concrete examples to illustrate the impact of the...

We examine the returns to investors in publicly traded stock in new industries. We examine data from the United States on sellers of own-brand personal computers, airlines and airplane manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, railroads, and telegraphs. We find that a relatively small number of...

Money markets have two functions, the allocation of liquidity and the processing of information. We develop a model that allows us to evaluate the efficiency of different money market derivatives regarding these two objectives. We assume that due to its size, a large bank receives a more precise...