Winner of the prestigious
Paul A. Samuelson Award for scholarly writing on lifelong financial security, John
Cochrane's Asset Pricing now appears in a revised edition that unifies and brings the
science of asset pricing up to date for advanced students and professionals. Cochrane
traces the pricing of all assets back to a single idea price equals expected discounted
payoff that captures the macro-economic risks underlying each security's value. By using a
single, stochastic discount factor rather than a separate set of tricks for each asset
class, Cochrane builds a unified account of modern asset pricing. He presents applications
to stocks, bonds, and options. Each model consumption based, CAPM, multifactor, term
structure, and option pricing is derived as a different specification of the discounted
factor.
The discount factor
framework also leads to a state-space geometry for mean-variance frontiers and asset
pricing models. It puts payoffs in different states of nature on the axes rather than mean
and variance of return, leading to a new and conveniently linear geometrical
representation of asset pricing ideas.
Cochrane approaches
empirical work with the Generalized Method of Moments, which studies sample average prices
and discounted payoffs to determine whether price does equal expected discounted payoff.
He translates between the discount factor, GMM, and state-space language and the beta,
mean-variance, and regression language common in empirical work and earlier theory.
The book also includes a
review of recent empirical work on return predictability, value and other puzzles in the
cross section, and equity premium puzzles and their resolution. Written to be a summary
for academics and professionals as well as a textbook, this book condenses and advances
recent scholarship in financial economics.
About Author
John H. Cochrane is Theodore
O. Yntema Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
He is Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research Asset Pricing Program.
Review:
"This is a
brilliant and useful book, well-deserving of the TIAA-CREF Samuelson Award. . . . The
clever intuition and informal writing style make it a joy to read. Like a star athlete
does with the sport, Cochrane makes it look easier than it really is." Journal
of Economic Literature
Endorsements:
"An excellent
survey of asset pricing theory and applications from the modern viewpoint of stochastic
discount factors and their associated geometry. This book was already a classic among
finance scholars and on Ph.D. syllabi when it circulated in the form of class notes. It
will also prove highly useful to practitioners who seek an in-depth introduction to these
tools." Yacine Ait-Sahalia, Princeton University
"This is a
beautiful book that uses the elegant simplicity of the stochastic discount factor to
present a general theory of the pricing of stocks, bonds, and derivatives and a practical
approach to estimating particular models derived from the general theory. It will help
experts in the field to consolidate their knowledge and beginners to appreciate the unity
of asset pricing theory. Cochrane uses his mastery of the subject to present it in a clear
and compelling manner that is easily accessible." Michael Brennan, Anderson
School, University of California, Los Angeles
"This is an
impressive treatise of very high quality. It is a serious scholarly monograph, of interest
to those who are working to advance financial theory, and it can also serve as a textbook
in an advanced finance course. It is thoughtful, inductive, and comprehensive."
Robert J. Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance
526 pages