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Model uncertainty and the pricing of American options

Author

Listed:
  • David Hobson

    (University of Warwick)

  • Anthony Neuberger

    (City University)

Abstract

The virtue of an American option is that it can be exercised at any time. This right is particularly valuable when there is model uncertainty. Yet almost all the extensive literature on American options assumes away model uncertainty. This paper quantifies the potential value of this flexibility by identifying the supremum on the price of an American option when we do not impose a model, but rather consider the class of all models which are consistent with a family of European call prices. The bound is enforced by a hedging strategy involving these call options which is robust to model error.

Suggested Citation

  • David Hobson & Anthony Neuberger, 2017. "Model uncertainty and the pricing of American options," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 285-329, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:finsto:v:21:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00780-016-0314-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00780-016-0314-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leif Andersen & Mark Broadie, 2004. "Primal-Dual Simulation Algorithm for Pricing Multidimensional American Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(9), pages 1222-1234, September.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ye Du & Shan Xue & Yanchu Liu, 2019. "Robust upper bounds for American put options," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 3-14, January.
    2. Erhan Bayraktar & Zhou Zhou, 2017. "Super-Hedging American Options With Semi-Static Trading Strategies Under Model Uncertainty," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(06), pages 1-10, September.
    3. Anna Aksamit & Ivan Guo & Shidan Liu & Zhou Zhou, 2021. "Superhedging duality for multi-action options under model uncertainty with information delay," Papers 2111.14502, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    4. Francesca Biagini & Yinglin Zhang, 2017. "Reduced-form framework under model uncertainty," Papers 1707.04475, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2018.
    5. Erhan Bayraktar & Zhou Zhou, 2019. "No-Arbitrage and Hedging with Liquid American Options," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 468-486, May.
    6. David Hobson & Dominykas Norgilas, 2019. "Robust bounds for the American put," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 359-395, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    American option; Model-free pricing; Robust hedging; Model risk; Rational bounds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

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