We present a general and flexible numerical procedure for pricing European interest-rate derivatives within multifactor affine term structure models by means of piecewise multilinear interpolations. Our procedure relies to the maximum extent on the true density of the state process and solves...

We analyze the relation between expected option returns and the volatility of the underlying securities. The expected return from holding a call (put) option is a decreasing (increasing) function of the volatility of the underlying. These predictions are strongly supported by the data. In the...

We nest multiple volatility components, fat tails and a U-shaped pricing kernel in a single option model and compare their contribution to describing returns and option data. All three features lead to statistically significant model improvements. A U-shaped pricing kernel is economically most...

We survey the theory and empirical evidence on GARCH option valuation models. We provide an overview of different functional forms for the volatility dynamic, multifactor models, nonnormal innovation distributions and valuation techniques. We also discuss alternative pricing kernels used for...

The computational cost of estimating option valuation models is very high, due to model complexity and the abundance of available option data. We propose an approach that addresses these computational constraints by filtering the state variables using particle weights based on model-implied spot...

This chapter surveys the methods available for extracting information from option prices that can be used in forecasting. We consider option-implied volatilities, skewness, kurtosis, and densities. More generally, we discuss how any forecasting object that is a twice differentiable function of...

Many studies have documented that daily realized volatility estimates based on intraday returns provide volatility forecasts that are superior to forecasts constructed from daily returns only. We investigate whether these forecasting improvements translate into economic value added. To do so we...