Unlike European-type derivative securities, there are no simple analytic valuation formulas for American options, even when the underlying asset price has constant volatility. The early exercise feature considerably complicates the valuation of American contracts. The strategy taken in this...

This paper provides a survey of recent numerical methods for pricing derivative securities. Methods for standard American options on a single underlying asset, barrier and lookback options and options on multiple assets are reviewed. Criteria for comparison of different approaches are discussed....

We provide a simple binomial framework to value American-style derivatives subject to trading restrictions. The optimal investment of liquid wealth is solved simultaneously with the early exercise decision of the non-traded derivative. No-short-sales constraints on the underlying asset manifest...

This paper studies the limit distributions of Monte Carlo estimators of diffusion processes. Two types of estimators are examined. The first one is based on the Euler scheme applied to the original processes; the second applies the Euler scheme to a variance-stabilizing transformation of the...

This paper examines the valuation of European- and American-style volatility options based on a general equilibrium stochastic volatility framework. Properties of the optimal exercise region and of the option price are provided when volatility follows a general diffusion process. Explicit...

This paper studies the conditions for aggregation, portfolio separation and effective completeness of competitive allocations in general equilibrium models with incomplete markets in which agents have general preference and endowment distributions. We show that these properties are distinct....

A useful feature of European and American options in the standard financial market model with constant coefficients is the property of put-call symmetry. This property states that the value of a put option with strike price K and maturity date T is the same as the value of a call option with...

We provide a comprehensive treatment of option pricing with particular emphasis on the valuation of American options on dividend-paying essets. We begin by reviewing valuation principles for European contingent claims in a financial market in which the underlying asset price follows an Itô...