Viewpoint: Option prices, preferences, and state variables

René Garcia, Richard Luger and Eric Renault

Canadian Journal of Economics, 2005, vol. 38, issue 1, 1-27

Abstract: This paper surveys recent developments in the theory of option pricing. The emphasis is on the interplay between option prices and investors' impatience and their aversion to risk. The traditional view, steeped in the risk-neutral approach to derivative pricing, has been that these preferences play no role in the determination of option prices. However, the usual lognormality assumption required to obtain preference-free option pricing formulas is at odds with the empirical properties of financial assets. The lognormality assumption is easily reconcilable with those properties by the introduction of a latent state variable whose values can be interpreted as the states of the economy. The presence of a covariance risk with the state variable makes option prices depend explicitly on preferences. Generalized option pricing formulas, in which preferences matter, can explain several well-known empirical biases associated with preference-free models such as that of Black and Scholes (1973) and the stochastic volatility extensions of Hull and White (1987) and Heston (1993).

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0008-4085.2005.00266.x (text/html)
access restricted to subscribers

Related works:
Journal Article: Viewpoint: Option prices, preferences, and state variables (2005)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cje:issued:v:38:y:2005:i:1:p:1-27

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.economic ... ionen/membership.php

Access Statistics for this article

Canadian Journal of Economics is currently edited by Zhiqi Chen

More articles in Canadian Journal of Economics from Canadian Economics Association Canadian Economics Association Prof. Werrner Antweiler, Treasurer UBC Sauder School of Business 2053 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Prof. Werner Antweiler ().