Using an intuitive approach that also provides new intuition concerning the Black and Scholes equation, this paper extends the results of Johnson and Stulz to the pricing of options on the minimum or the maximum of several risky assets.

The Monte Carlo method is used to solve for the price of a call when the variance is changing stochastically.

This paper examines the retail gasoline price fluctuations known as gas wars. Weekly prices for the Los Angeles area were examined for the period from January 2, 1968 through December 23, 1975. The observed fluctuations were remarkably regular and, apparently, large ly predictable. The data appear consistent with the recent game theory model of E. Maskin and J. Tirole in which competing firms produce Edgeworth cycles by undercutting each other and eventually relenting.

This study is an ex post performance test comparing the accuracy of an American model to a European model for valuing listed options. Specifically, the Geske and Johnson American put valuation model is compared with the Black and Scholes European put model. On average, both models undervalue, relative to market prices, put options. However, the Geske and Johnson model values are significantly closer to market prices than are the Black and Scholes values.

This study examines stock and bond price reactions to dividend changes. The positive stock market response to dividend increases has several potential explanations, two of the more commonly discussed being information content and wealth redistribution between stockholders and bondholders. The evidence presented supports the wealth redistribution hypothesis but does not rule out the information content hypothesis. Typically we find that the bond price reaction to announcements of large dividend changes is opposite to the stock price reaction. Our results differ from those of Handjinicolaou and Kalay.

This study examines stock and bond price reactions to dividend changes. The positive stock market response to dividend increases has several potential explanations, two of the more commonly discussed being information content and wealth redistribution between stockholders and bondholders. The evidence presented supports the wealth redistribution hypothesis but does not rule out the information content hypothesis. Typically we find that the bond price reaction to announcements of large dividend changes is opposite to the stock price reaction. Our results differ from those of Handjinicolaou and Kalay.

This study examines stock and bond price reactions to dividend changes. The positive stock market response to dividend increases has several potential explanations, two of the more commonly discussed being information content and wealth redistribution between stockholders and bondholders. The evidence presented supports the wealth redistribution hypothesis but does not rule out the information content hypothesis. Typically, the authors find that the bond price reaction to announcements of large dividend changes is opposite to the stock price reaction. Their results differ from those of G. Handjinicolaou and A. Kalay (1984).

R. Geske and H. E. Johnson (1984) develop an equation for the American put price and obtain accurate prices using a method requiring quadrivariate normal integrals evaluated over an interval containing four equally spaced exercise points. The authors show that a modification of their method, which uses optimal placement of exercise points, yields, in most cases, accurate values using nothing more than bivariate normals. In the more difficult (deep-in-the-money) cases, trivariate normals suffice.

What happens to the price of a put in a period during which the stock price stays constant? The hedging strategy implicit in the Black-Scholes model would seem to imply that the put goes up in value. Pure arbitrage arguments imply the opposite result. This paper resolves the paradox and uses it to explore the restrictions inherent in the diffusion processes assumed for all option pricing models.

This paper analyzes the pricing of two types of secured debt and shows that secured debt can be used to increase the value of the firm. In particular, it is shown that some profitable projects will not be undertaken by a firm which can use only equity or unsecured debt to finance them but will be undertaken if they can be financed with secured debt. Secured debt is priced for a firm with two assets and some unsecured debt outstanding. The pricing results are used to illustrate the benefits of the security provision of secured debt.