A guide to stochastic calculus as the basis behind mathematical finance An increasingly popular field of study at universities and an essential skill for investment bank employees, mathematical finance has changed dramatically in recent years, but its roots remain in stochastic calculus. Problems and Solutions in Mathematical Finance: Volume 1 provides a comprehensive explanation of stochastic calculus and probability theory focusing on their relationship with mathematical finance. Quantitative analysts Dr. Eric Chin and Dian Nel and Professor Sverrir Olafsson portray stochastic calculus' role in generating partial differentiation equations for pricing options and constructing probability measures in conjunction with martingale theory. Mathematical and computational finance rely on computational intelligence, numerical methods, and computer simulations to make trading, hedging, and investment decisions, to determine the risk of those decisions, and to define price derivatives. -Includes chapter-by-chapter introduction of the fundamental tenets, essential definitions, and detailed explanations needed to solve financial problems -Offers advice from experts in price testing methodologies, model calibration, energy markets, hedging in incomplete markets, and risk management Problems and Solutions in Mathematical Finance: Volume 1 functions as either an independent information text or a study supplement for students and practitioners eager to recover the basics of mathematical finance.

Sustainable Investing: Socio-Economic Impacts of Exchange-Traded Funds examines the social and economic effects of sustainable investing ETFs and their impacts on the global financial system. The book presents the key issues with regard to sustainable investing, discussing exchange-traded funds mechanisms and categories in comparison to competing investment funds. The book outlines the theoretical determinants of ETF markets development and the effects of their diffusion, both at the investor and firm levels, as well as financial system, entire economy, and society levels. The book presents various possible implementations of sustainable investing, and covers the methodological aspects of their identification and categorization. Hybrid investment products-such as exchange-traded funds that combine the investment features of mutual funds with the trading features of stocks-are one of the most rapidly growing categories of investment funds with their total global value reaching almost $5 trillion. The book examines the linkages between ETFs and the FinTech sector in the context of sustainable development, as well as global sustainable development policies in relation to their effects on the popularity of sustainable investing. The book concludes with a discussion of the significance for other entities that may be affected, such as policy makers and recipients of funds invested through sustainable investment strategies.

Research on MFI performance is still in its infancy. MFIs are hybrid organizations with dual objectives. Performance studies in microfinance are therefore less straightforward compared to performance studies in traditional banking research. This book contains new MFI performance research by top scholars from across the globe.

This book focuses on identifying and explaining the key determinants of scenario analysis in the context of operational risk, stress testing and systemic risk, as well as management and planning. Each chapter presents alternative solutions to perform reliable scenario analysis. The author also provides technical notes and describes applications and key characteristics for each of the solutions. In addition, the book includes a section to help practitioners interpret the results and adjust them to real-life management activities. Methodologies, including those derived from consensus strategies, extreme value theory, Bayesian networks, Neural networks, Fault Trees, frequentist statistics and data mining are introduced in such a way as to make them understandable to readers without a quantitative background. Particular emphasis is given to the added value of the implementation of these methodologies.

". . . shining clarity and enviable originality" -Peter L. Bernstein, author of Against the Gods
"Mark Kritzman presents the reader with an entertaining way of learning some serious finance."-Harry Markowitz, Nobel Prize Recipient, 1990, Economic Sciences President, Harry Markowitz Company
Six challenging questions . . . six entertaining solutions, profound yet straightforward, and relevant to the everyday challenge of investing and investment management.
Puzzles of Finance takes on today's most persistently challenging financial questions and, through clever examples and just plain logic, helps you move beyond those questions to arrive at a deeper understanding of finance and the daily management of money. From Siegel's Paradox ("Is it possible to profit from asymmetry of exchange rate changes?") to questions of option value ("Why is the value of an option unaffected by the underlying asset's expected return?"), Puzzles of Finance goes beyond vague theoretical suppositions to supply practical, concrete solutions that investors and money managers can benefit from every day.
While the intellectually curious will be drawn to Puzzles of Finance, it is the day-to-day finance professional who will derive the most benefit from this remarkable book. In clear, concise language-with more than a touch of humor-renowned author and financial professional Mark Kritzman simplifies six of today's most perplexing financial riddles. Along the way, he presents a finance primer as practical as it is profound, as illuminating as it is entertaining. Kritzman artfully explores the relationship of such seemingly disparate fields as botany and thermodynamics to options. These proofs propel Puzzles of Finance forward with the pace of a novel. An easy-to-understand primer on financial concepts and quantitative methods combined with a technical glossary ensures that no concept is misunderstood.
The result is an unprecedented book that will change the way you view finance and investing. When you invest your time in reading Puzzles of Finance, you will uncover some of the most probing and insightful lessons in financial literature today.
For updates on new and bestselling Wiley Finance books: wiley.com/wbns
Critical Praise for Puzzles of Finance
". . . an extraordinary combination of the elements of finance, commonsense wisdom, sparkling humor, shining clarity, and enviable originality. This is a potent blend by any standard of measurement. Long time Kritzman watchers, however, would anticipate nothing less." -Peter L. Bernstein, Author, Against the Gods
"A modest, lively, clever, little book. Kritzman's puzzles range from party tidbits to the profound, and each is presented with a bit of history, a lot of insight, and just the right measure of wit. While he may not have intended it to be more than a collection of interesting conundrums, Kritzman has actually created a wonderful introduction to finance for the uninitiated with challenges for even the most sophisticated."-Stephen A. Ross, Franco Modigliani Professor of Finance and Economics,Sloan School, MIT; Co-Chairman, Roll and Ross Asset Management Corp.
"Some people do crosswords. Mark Kritzman does financial puzzles and his explications amuse and instruct. Financial theory has never been this much fun."-Jack R. Meyer, President, Harvard Management Company
"Puzzles of Finance should be a joy to finance mavens and even their friends! Perhaps all students of the field should be required to solve these six puzzles; they go to the heart of the intuitions for essential contributions, such as the pricing of options, the meaning of efficient diversification, and the definition of risk."-Kenneth A. Froot, Andre R. Jakurski Professor of Business Administration and Director of Research, Harvard Business School

Financial reporting is becoming more onerous and complex, particularly for listed companies. Accounting scandals have led to a greater regulatory focus on the role of audit committees, non-executive directors, risk management and internal control which put the Finance Director under new and more stringent pressures.
This quick reference manual provides extensive information on recent changes and authoritative coverage of all the financial operations a busy Finance Director has now to undertake. All the key business critical information is here in one book everything a busy Finance Director needs access to. Written by professionals for professionals so that key information is easily accessed, assimilated and used. Detailed sections are devoted to audit, cash flow management, corporate transactions, financial reporting, management accounting, taxation and treasury and risk management.
* the vast range of business critical issues is constantly changing - to help you stay up to date, included in the price of the book are free regular on-line downloads of updates to legislation/standards
* packed with over 1000 pages, on key areas such as audit, company law, corporate governance, financial reporting, investor relations - you'll never be stuck for an answer again
* stay on top of the waves of legislation and standards as they roll in with the help of specialists in the field"

This is the first comprehensive account of the development of consumer credit. Consumer credit is a vital force driving the development of our economic system. Rather than look at consumer credit solely as an economic phenomenon, Klein examines the social impact of the consumer credit industry within the framework of economic and cultural change. His analysis offers a concise examination of the industry from the perspective of marketing, the creating of material and experiential products, and the product distribution mechanisms. The discussion of changes within the bankruptcy structure accounts for the creation of overzealous consumer spending and the implementation of controls over individual consumer credit. This will be of interest to scholars or students concentrating in economic sociology, stratification, and cultural studies.

Computational Economics: A Perspective from Computational Intelligence provides models of various economic and financial issues while using computational intelligence as a foundation. The scope of this volume comprises finance, economics, management, organizational theory and public policies. It explains the ongoing and novel research in this field, and displays the power of these computational methods in coping with difficult problems with methods from traditional perspectives. By encouraging the discussion of different views, this book serves as an introductory and inspiring volume that helps to flourish studies in computational economics.

Stochastic Optimal Control (SOC)-a mathematical theory concerned with minimizing a cost (or maximizing a payout) pertaining to a controlled dynamic processunder uncertainty-has proven incredibly helpful to understanding and predicting debt crises and evaluating proposed financial regulation and risk management."Stochastic Optimal Control and the U.S. Financial Debt Crisis"analyzes SOC in relation to the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, and offers a detailed framework depicting why such a methodology is best suited for reducing financial risk and addressing key regulatory issues. Topics discussed include the inadequacies of the current approaches underlying financial regulations, the use of SOC to explain debt crises and superiority over existing approaches to regulation, and the domestic and international applications of SOC to financial crises. Principles in this book will appeal to economists, mathematicians, and researchers interested in the U.S. financial debt crisis and optimal risk management."

In managerial literature the challenges of ramping-up, growing and enhancing a (Finance) Shared Services Organization are regularly neglected. Therefore, the compilation will address two objectives: First, based on a generic phase model of an SSO s development, frequently arising questions related to the management of SSOs shall be systematically discussed and practicable solutions derived. Secondly, a picture of the future of SSOs shall be elaborated, resulting in new future management implications.

This book is distinctive among current studies on this topic. The Chinese economy has entered a period of transformation, which has brought changes to the finance market and consumer habits. For a long time, topics such as monetary policy, reform, financial risks and so forth have been the focus. But there have been few studies of those aspects of the consumer finance market that are directly related to private consumption. Studies on this topic, to which this book contributes, are necessary for understanding the current economic situation in China. This is a full-scale comparative study of consumer finance in China, Japan and South Korea, and will draw lessons for China in this area from the experience of the other two countries.

A comprehensive book on shipping derivatives and risk management which covers the theoretical and practical aspects of financial risk in shipping. The book provides a thorough overview of the practice of risk management in shipping with the use of theoretical examples and real-life applications.

Academic finance research has shown that emerging markets still suffer from a myriad of risks such as credit, operational, market, legal and exchange rate risks. The onset of the subprime crisis 2007, the global financial crisis 2008-2009, and the Eurozone public debt crisis since the end of 2009 has brought to the light a number of emerging markets facing tumbling currencies, rising inflation, slowing growth, heavy dependence on foreign capital, and high levels of vulnerability to external shocks due to increased market integration. This context calls for not only a reconsideration of recent risk assessment models and risk management practices, but also the improvement and innovation of these models and practices. Factors such as liquidity, tail dependence, comovement, contagion, and timescale interactions have thus to be part of an integrated risk assessment and management framework. This book addresses three main dimensions of risk management in emerging markets: 1) the effectiveness of risk management practices; 2) current issues and challenges in risk assessment and modelling in emerging market countries; 3) the responses of emerging markets to the recent financial crises and the design of risk management models.

Behavioral finance is the study of how psychology affects financial decision making and financial markets. It is increasingly becoming the common way of understanding investor behavior and stock market activity. In this 2nd Edition Hersh Shefrin examines the reigning assumptions of asset pricing theory and reconstructs them to incorporate findings from behavioral finance. In other words, he takes the traditional tools in asset pricing and behavioralizes them. He constructs a solid, intact structure that challenges classic assumptions and at the same time provides a strong theory and efficient empirical tools. Building on the models developed by both traditional asset pricing theorists and behavioral asset pricing theorists, Shefrin's book takes the discussion to the next step. He provides a general behaviorally based intertemporal treatment of asset pricing theory that extends to the discussion of derivatives, fixed income securities, mean-variance efficient portfolios, and the market portfolio, based on all the latest research and theory.
* The second edition continues the tradition of the first edition by being the one and only book to focus completely on how behavioral finance principles affect asset pricing, now with its theory deepened and enriched by a plethora of research since the first edition
* A companion website contains a series of examples worked out as Excel spreadsheets so that readers can input their own data to test the results

This edited volume provides a critical evaluation of financing options for sustainable development in Africa. While sustainability has long been the watchword for development programs, and while many African countries have taken initiatives to develop integrated frameworks that tackle developmental challenges-including poverty, education, and health-financing has remained a challenge. In this book, an expert team of chapter authors examines new financing options while also exploring how traditional financing means, such as foreign aid and foreign direct investment, can be more effective for sustainability. The authors discuss how African nations can build adequate structures and productive capacity to create a platform that can meet present economic, social, and environmental needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Practical case studies and scientific evidence give this book a unique approach that is both qualitative and quantitative. This book will be of interest to students, practitioners, and scholars of development studies, public policy and African economics.

This book is an anthropological investigation into the different forms the economy assumes, and the different purposes it serves, when conceived from the perspective of Islamic micro-finance as a field of everyday practice. It is based on long-term ethnographic research in Java, Indonesia, with Islamic foundations active in managing zakat and other charitable funds, for purposes of poverty alleviation. The book explores the social foundations of contemporary Islamic practices that strive to encompass the economic within an expanded domain of divine worship and elucidates the effects such encompassment has on time, its fissure and synthesis. In order to elaborate on the question of time, the book looks beyond anthropology and Islamic studies, engaging attentively, critically and productively with the post-structuralist work of G. Deleuze, M. Foucault and J. Derrida, three of the most important figures of the temporal turn in contemporary philosophy.

This book investigates the contemporary functioning of financial institutions and monetary policies in order to assess their effects in different economic situations. It advances some proposals to improve their contribution towards a more stable and vigorous economy in the context of both developed and developing countries. This book includes important contributions on the theory and econometric testing of monetary policy strategies, hedging by firms, financial liberalization in Latin America and the role of financial institutions in promoting economic development.

The world economy is caught in a money trap. Existing monetary arrangements meet the needs neither of the ageing societies of the West nor of younger emerging economies. This in-depth analysis explains how the world got into the grip of global finance - and how it can escape, with a growing demand for reform.

Against the backdrop of China's increasingly influential role in the international financial architecture, this book seeks to characterize and evaluate China's financial power potential. It does so by analyzing the relationship between domestic financial repression and international financial power in the context of the political economy of the developmental state. On the basis of a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of the financial power potential of developmental states, the book provides an in-depth analysis of China's approach to currency internationalization, its creditor status and its policies towards the Bretton Woods institutions while contrasting the country's present role in global finance with the position of the Japanese developmental state in the 1980s and 1990s.