In this paper we discuss the significant computational simplification that occurs when option pricing is approached through the change of numeraire technique. The original impetus was a recently published paper on endowment options (Hoang, Powell, Shi 1999). We show that the HPS analysis can be...

Significant computational simplification is achieved when option pricing is approached through the change of numeraire technique. By pricing an asset in terms of another traded asset (the numeraire), this technique reduces the number of sources of risk that need to be accounted for. The...

An extensive cheapest-to-deliver (CTD) literature has become mired in the misconception that the CTD is characterizable in terms of duration. We show that exceptions to the duration rule contain many economically relevant scenarios. Our conclusions may be summarized as follows: 1. Independent of...

The paper shows how-in a Merton-type model with bankruptcy-the currency composition of debt changes the risk profile of a company raising a given amount of financing, and thus affects the cost of debt. Foreign currency borrowing is cheaper when the exchange rate is positively correlated with the...