We derive the optimal portfolio for an investor with increasing relative risk aversion in a complete continuous-time securities market. The IRRA assumption helps to mitigate the criticism of constant relative risk aversion that it implies an unreasonably large aversion to large gambles, given...

We provide a theoretical rationale for dealer objections to ex-post transparency in corporate bond and other OTC markets: Disclosure of the terms of a transaction conveys information possessed by the dealer about the asset quality and reduces the dealer's rents when she disposes of the inventory...

The observation that low-risk assets on average have higher risk-adjusted returns relative to high-risk assets – the low-risk effect – is a driving force behind a broad set of well-documented cross-sectional asset pricing anomalies. I document that long-short strategies formed on a wide...

This volume includes the five lecture courses given at the CIME-EMS School on "Stochastic Methods in Finance" held in Bressanone/Brixen, Italy 2003. It deals with innovative methods, mainly from stochastic analysis, that play a fundamental role in the mathematical modelling of finance and...

The presence of information asymmetry increases the probability that a potential predator will provide liquidity rather than engaging in predatory trading during liquidation by a distressed trader. More information asymmetry is associated with lower expected losses from liquidation for the...