Discretely sampled variance and volatility swaps trade actively in OTC markets. To price these swaps, the continuously sampled approximation is often used to simplify the computations. The purpose of this paper is to study the conditions under which this approximation is valid. Our first set of...

This paper provides an alternative approach to Duffie and Lando [Econometrica 69 (2001) 633-664] for obtaining a reduced form credit risk model from a structural model. Duffie and Lando obtain a reduced form model by constructing an economy where the market sees the manager's information set...

The classical reduced-form and filtration expansion framework in credit risk is extended to the case of multiple, non-ordered defaults, assuming that conditional densities of the default times exist. Intensities and pricing formulas are derived, revealing how information driven default contagion...

Classical theories of financial markets assume an infinitely liquid market and that all traders act as price takers. This theory is a good approximation for highly liquid stocks, although even there it does not apply well for large traders or for modelling transaction costs. We extend the...

In economic theory, both discrete and continuous time models are commonly believed to be equivalent in the sense that one can always be used to approximate the other, or equivalently, any phenomena present in one is also present in the other. This common belief is misguided. Both (strict) local...

This paper uses a conditional law of large numbers and a conditional central limit theorem to provide simplified asymptotic valuation formulas for credit derivatives on baskets, including synthetic and cash-flow CDOs. In particular, approximate pricing procedures are provided for synthetic and...