The dynamic version of the Glosten and Milgrom (1985) model of asset pricing with asymmetric information is studied. It is shown that there is a unique equilibrium when the next-period value function of the informed trader, who knows the terminal value of the asset, is strictly convex and strictly monotone in terms of the market maker’s prior belief. A characterization of the bid and ask prices...

We study the trade of indivisible goods using credit, divisible money and divisible assets in a frictional market. We show how indivisibility matters for equilibria. Bargaining generates a price that is not linked to nominal interest rates, dividend value of the asset, or the number of active buyers. To reestablish this connection, we consider price posting with competitive search. We provide c...

Traders in a market typically have widely different, private information on the return of an asset. The equilibrium price of the asset may reflect this information more accurately if the number of traders is large enough compared to the number of the states of the world that determine the return of the asset. We study the transition from markets where prices do not reflect the information accur...

We propose a new approach to portfolio optimization by separating asset return distributions into positive and negative half-spaces. The approach minimizes a so-called Partitioned Value-atRisk (PVaR) measure by using half-space statistical information. Using simulated and real data, the PVaR approach generates better risk-return tradeoffs in the optimal portfolios when compared to Markowitz mea...

The presence of illiquid assets, such as human wealth, housing and proprietorships substantially complicates the problem of portfolio choice. This paper is concerned with the problem of optimal asset allocation in a continuous time model when one asset cannot be traded. This illiquid asset, which depends on an uninsurable source of risk, provides a liquid dividend. In the case of human capital ...

In this paper we develop an asset allocation model which allocates assets by maximising expected return subject to the constraint that the expected maximum loss should meet the Value-at-Risk limits set by the risk manager. Similar to the mean-variance approach a performance index like the Sharpe index is constructed. Furthermore it is shown that the model nests the mean-variance approach in cas...

This paper analyzes a risk averse entrepreneur’s real investment decision under incomplete markets. The entrepreneur smoothes his intertemporal consumption by investing in both a risk-free asset and a risky asset, which allows him to partially hedge against the project cash flow risk. We show that risk aversion lowers both the project value upon investment and the option value of waiting to inv...

Market efficiency is at the center of the battle of standard finance versus behavioral finance versus investment professionals. But the battle is not joined because the term “market efficiency” has two meanings. One meaning is that investors cannot systematically beat the market. The other is that security prices are rational. Rational prices reflect only utilitarian characteristics, such as ri...

Based on data from the Danish Stock Exchange, this paper analyses the value relevance of goodwill and goodwill amortization. Until Danish accounting legislation was changed as of January 1, 2002 companies were allowed to write-off goodwill or capitalize it subject to amortization, which provided a richer information set, as goodwill must be capitalized under most other accounting regimes. The v...