The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of illiquidity on the value of currency options. We use a unique dataset that allows us to explore this issue in special circumstances where options are issued by a central bank and are not traded prior to maturity. The value of these options is compared to similar options traded on the exchange. We find that the nontradable options are priced about 21 percent less than the exchange‐traded options. This gap cannot be arbitraged away due to transactions costs and the risk that the exchange rate will change during the bidding process.

This paper investigates the effect of inflation and taxes on the optimal duration of investments. The main conclusion is that inflation does not always increase the duration of investments. For example, in the case of equipment with a short replacement cycle, increased inflation tends to decrease the duration of the cycle. Contrary to the common theoretical analysis, these results imply that inflation may increase some forms of capital investments.