Financial Decisions and Markets - by John Y Campbell (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the field's leading authority, the most authoritative and comprehensive advanced-level textbook on asset pricing

In Financial Decisions and Markets, John Campbell, one of the field's most respected authorities, provides a broad graduate-level overview of asset pricing. He introduces students to leading theories of portfolio choice, their implications for asset prices, and empirical patterns of risk and return in financial markets. Campbell emphasizes the interplay of theory and evidence, as theorists respond to empirical puzzles by developing models with new testable implications. The book shows how models make predictions not only about asset prices but also about investors' financial positions, and how they often draw on insights from behavioral economics.

After a careful introduction to single-period models, Campbell develops multiperiod models with time-varying discount rates, reviews the leading approaches to consumption-based asset pricing, and integrates the study of equities and fixed-income securities. He discusses models with heterogeneous agents who use financial markets to share their risks, but also may speculate against one another on the basis of different beliefs or private information. Campbell takes a broad view of the field, linking asset pricing to related areas, including financial econometrics, household finance, and macroeconomics. The textbook works in discrete time throughout, and does not require stochastic calculus. Problems are provided at the end of each chapter to challenge students to develop their understanding of the main issues in financial economics.

The most comprehensive and balanced textbook on asset pricing available, Financial Decisions and Markets is an essential resource for all graduate students and practitioners in finance and related fields.

• Integrated treatment of asset pricing theory and empirical evidence
• Emphasis on investors' decisions
• Broad view linking the field to financial econometrics, household finance, and macroeconomics
• Topics treated in discrete time, with no requirement for stochastic calculus
• Solutions manual for problems available to professors

From the Back Cover

"John Campbell is one of the leading researchers and teachers in asset pricing. This remarkably clear and well-organized book is strong testimony to his expertise. I will use it often in my own research."--Kenneth R. French, Dartmouth College

"John Campbell has given us the definitive course text on financial decision making and asset pricing. Every student and researcher in the field will want this masterful integration of decades of study on actual investor behavior and market equilibrium."--Darrell Duffie, Stanford University

"John Campbell has long been a top researcher in the vibrant intersection of asset pricing and macroeconomics. This book provides an interesting and in-depth exposition of his take on the current state of this important area."--Eugene Fama, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

"Written by a major contributor to the economics of financial markets, Financial Decisions and Markets is a comprehensive, insightful, and authoritative graduate-level introduction to asset pricing. This book stresses the interplay between theory, econometrics, and empirics, the hallmark of John Campbell's research. The critical analysis and problem sets stimulate readers to confront open questions at the research frontier. I plan to adopt this book in my PhD-level course."--George M. Constantinides, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Review Quotes

"John Campbell has given us the definitive course text on financial decision making and asset pricing. Every student and researcher in the field will want this masterful integration of decades of study on actual investor behavior and market equilibrium."--Darrell Duffie, Stanford University

"John Campbell has long been a top researcher in the vibrant intersection of asset pricing and macroeconomics. This book provides an interesting and in-depth exposition of his take on the current state of this important area."--Eugene Fama, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

"John Campbell is one of the leading researchers and teachers in asset pricing. This remarkably clear and well-organized book is strong testimony to his expertise. I will use it often in my own research."--Kenneth R. French, Dartmouth College

"Written by a major contributor to the economics of financial markets, Financial Decisions and Markets is a comprehensive, insightful, and authoritative graduate-level introduction to asset pricing. This book stresses the interplay between theory, econometrics, and empirics, the hallmark of John Campbell's research. The critical analysis and problem sets stimulate readers to confront open questions at the research frontier. I plan to adopt this book in my PhD-level course."--George M. Constantinides, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

About the Author

John Y. Campbell is the Morton L. and Carole S. Olshan Professor of Economics at Harvard University. His books include The Econometrics of Financial Markets (Princeton) and Strategic Asset Allocation: Portfolio Choice for Long-Term Investors.