Principles of Financial Economics

This new edition provides a rigorous yet accessible graduate-level introduction to financial economics. Since students often find the link between financial economics and equilibrium theory hard to grasp, less attention is given to purely financial topics, such as valuation of derivatives, and more emphasis is placed on making the connection with equilibrium theory explicit and clear. This book also provides a detailed study of two-date models because almost all of the key ideas in financial economics can be developed in the two-date setting. Substantial discussions and examples are included to make the ideas readily understandable. Several chapters in this new edition have been reordered and revised to deal with portfolio restrictions sequentially and more clearly, and an extended discussion on portfolio choice and optimal allocation of risk is available. The most important additions are new chapters on infinite-time security markets, exploring, among other topics, the possibility of price bubbles. Advance praise: 'With this new edition, LeRoy and Werner have solidified the standing of their Principles of Financial Economics as the ideal introduction to neoclassical asset pricing models. The coverage is authoritative, rigorous, elegant, and now even more comprehensive.' Darrell Duffie, Dean Witter Distinguished Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University Advance praise: 'This remains the best textbook that marries general equilibrium foundations to the insights and tools of finance, with the addition of a wonderfully lucid analysis of infinite horizon models - with bubbles or au naturel. This is a required text for my introductory graduate finance course.' Stephen A. Ross, Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics, Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Advance praise: 'A tour de force of rigor, readability, and clarity. The book seamlessly introduces the beginning doctoral student to financial economics as a natural extension of microeconomic and general equilibrium theory. The book, written by two of the profession's leading experts, is unique.' Rajnish Mehra, Arizona State UniversityPreface; Part I. Equilibrium and Arbitrage: 1. Equilibrium in security markets; 2. Linear pricing; 3. Arbitrage and positive pricing; Part II. Valuation: 4. Valuation; 5. State prices and risk-neutral probabilities; Part III. Portfolio Restrictions: 6. Portfolio restrictions; 7. Valuation under portfolio restrictions; Part IV. Risk: 8. Expected utility; 9. Risk aversion; 10. Risk; Part V. Optimal Portfolios: 11. Optimal portfolios with one risky security; 12. Comparative statics of optimal portfolios; 13. Optimal portfolios with several risky securities; Part VI. Equilibrium Prices and Allocations: 14. Consumption-based security pricing; 15. Complete markets and Pareto-optimal allocations of risk; 16. Optimality in incomplete markets; Part VII. Mean-Variance Analysis: 17. The expectations and pricing kernels; 18. The mean-variance frontier payoffs; 19. Capital asset pricing model; 20. Factor pricing; Part VIII. Multidate Security Markets: 21. Equilibrium in multidate security markets; 22. Multidate arbitrage and positivity; 23. Dynamically complete markets; 24. Valuation; Part IX. Martingale Property of Security Prices: 25. Event prices, risk-neutral probabilities, and the pricing kernel; 26. Martingale property of gains; 27. Conditional consumption-based security pricing; 28. Conditional beta pricing and the CAPM; Part X. Infinite-Time Security Markets: 29. Equilibrium in infinite-time security markets; 30. Arbitrage, valuation, and price bubbles; 31. Arrow-Debreu equilibrium in infinite time.