Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice Theory

Kerry Back is the J. Howard Creekmore Professor of Finance at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business and a Professor of Economics in the Rice University School of Social Sciences. He previously served on the faculties of Northwestern University, Indiana University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Texas A&M University. At Washington University in St. Louis, he served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the Olin School of Business and was named a University Distinguished Faculty Member. He received faculty research awards at Texas A&M and at Rice University. Currently, he teaches introductory and advanced asset pricing theory to PhD students in the Jones School and in the Department of Economics. His research interests are in the areas of investments and market design, and he has served as an editor of the Review of Financial Studies, a co-editor of Finance & Stochastics, and an associate editor of the Journal of Finance and other journals.

• I. SINGLE-PERIOD MODELS 1. Utility and Risk Aversion2. Portfolio Choice3. Stochastic Discount Factors4. Equilibrium and Efficiency5. Mean-Variance Analysis6. Factor Models7. Representative InvestorsII. DYNAMIC MODELS8. Dynamic Securities Markets9. Dynamic Portfolio Choice10. Dynamic Asset Pricing11. Explaining Puzzles12. Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus13. Continuous-Time Markets14. Continuous-Time Portfolio Choice and Pricing15. Continuous-Time TopicsIII. DERIVATIVE SECURITIES16. Option Pricing17. Forwards, Futures, and More Option Pricing18. Term Structure Models19. Perpetual Options and the Leland Model20. Real Options and q TheoryIV. BELIEFS, INFORMATION, AND PREFERENCES21. Heterogeneous Beliefs22. Rational Expectations Equilibria23. Learning24. Information, Strategic Trading, and Liquidity25. Alternative Preferences

"Kerry Back has created a masterful introduction to asset pricing and portfolio choice. The coverage of topics is comprehensive, starting in a single-period setting and then moving naturally to dynamic models in both discrete and continuous time. The numerous challenging exercises are yet another big strength. In short, an impressive achievement." -- Robert F. Stambaugh, Miller Anderson & Sherrerd Professor of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania"Kerry Back offers us a rigorous, but accessible treatment of the asset pricing theory concepts that every doctoral student in finance should learn. A distinguished scholar in the field provides a presentation that is clear yet concise." -- Eduardo Schwartz, California Chair in Real Estate and Land Economics, UCLA Anderson School of Management"In Asset Pricing and Portfolio Choice Theory Kerry Back has given us a comprehensive, rigorous and at the same time elegant and self-contained treatment of the important developments in this vast literature. It will be useful to graduate students and advanced undergraduate students in economics, finance, financial engineering, and management science as well as interested practitioners." -- Ravi Jagannathan, Chicago Mercantile Exchange/John F. Sandner Professor of Finance and a Co-Director of the Financial Institutions and Markets Research Center, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University