Mathematical  Culture and Thought

Mathematical Culture and Thought

Probabilistic Aspects of Finance

Document Type : Translation

Author
Department of Mathematics, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Iran
Abstract
In the past decades, advanced probabilistic methods have had significant impact
on the field of finance, both in academia and in the financial industry. Conversely,
financial questions have stimulated new research directions in probability. In this survey
paper, we review some of these developments and point to some areas that might
deserve further investigation. We start by reviewing the basics of arbitrage pricing theory,
with special emphasis on incomplete markets and on the different roles played by
the “real-world” probability measure and its equivalent martingale measures. We then
focus on the issue of model ambiguity, also called Knightian uncertainty. We present
two case studies in which it is possible to deal with Knightian uncertainty in mathematical
terms. The first case study concerns the hedging of derivatives, such as variance
swaps, in a strictly pathwise sense. The second one deals with capital requirements
and preferences specified by convex and coherent risk measures. In the final two sections
we discuss mathematical issues arising from the dramatic increase of algorithmic
trading in modern financial markets.
Keywords
Subjects

Föllmer, H., Schied, A., Probabilistic aspects of finance, Bernoulli, 19 (4) (2013), 1306-1326.

  • Receive Date 14 May 2022
  • Revise Date 02 November 2022
  • Accept Date 03 November 2022
  • Publish Date 22 June 2023