We consider a multi-armed bandit model in which two players choose between learning about the quality of a risky option (modelled as a Poisson process with unknown arrival rate), and competing for the use of a single shared safe option that can only be used by one agent at the time. Firstly, when players cannot reverse their decision to switch to the safe option, the socially optimal policy mak...

This paper will derive the Black-Scholes pricing model of a European option by calculating the expected value of the option. We will assume that the stock price is log-normally distributed and that the universe is riskneutral. Then, using Ito’s Lemma, we will justify the use of the risk-neutral rate in these initial calculations. Finally, we will prove put-call parity in order to price European...

Using the dynamic programming principle in optimal stopping theory, we derive a semilinear Black and Scholes type partial differential equation set in a fixed domain for the value of an American (call/put) option. The nonlinearity in the semilinear Black and Scholes equation depends discontinuously on the American option value, so that standard theory for partial differential equation does not ...

This paper provides an overview of current U.S. practices and research findings concerning key consequences of executive ownership and stock option grants. Logic and some empirical findings suggest that the consequences of the level of executive ownership and the size of stock option grants have non-monotic relationships to firm performance. The size of option grants now typical in the U.S. is ...

We study convexity and monotonicity properties of option prices in a model with jumps using the fact that these prices satisfy certain parabolic integro-differential equations. Conditions are provided under which preservation of convexity holds, i.e. under which the value, calculated under a chosen martingale measure, of an option with a convex contract function is convex as a function of the u...