The Black-Scholes model of derivative pricing

Statistical Physics and Complexity Group meeting

The Black-Scholes model of derivative pricing

  • Event time: 11:30am
  • Event date: 26th March 2014
  • Speaker: Fred Farrell (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
  • Location: Room 2511,

Event details

The Black-Scholes model is a model used in finance to work out the price that should be charged for various 'financial derivatives' such as options (the option to buy something at a specified date in the future at a maximum price agreed now). This theory, published by Black and Scholes in 1973, was a major factor in the recent explosion in the trade of complex derivatives, which was a major cause of the 2008 financial crisis. I'll try and give an outline of the theory, which uses techniques of stochastic calculus common in statistical physics (the price of an asset is treated as a random walk), and if there's time discuss its limitations, such as its underestimation of risk.