To harness the full power of computer technology, economists need to use a broad range of mathematical techniques. In this book, Kenneth Judd presents techniques from the numerical analysis and applied mathematics literatures and shows how to use them in economic analyses. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides a general introduction. Part II presents basics from numerical analysis on R^n, including linear equations, iterative methods, optimization, nonlinear equations, approximation methods, numerical integration and differentiation, and Monte Carlo methods. Part III covers methods for dynamic problems, including finite difference methods, projection methods, and numerical dynamic programming. Part IV covers perturbation and asymptotic solution methods. Finally, Part V covers applications to dynamic equilibrium analysis, including solution methods for perfect foresight models and rational expectation models. A website contains supplementary material including programs and answers to exercises.

To harness the full power of computer technology, economists need to use a broad range of mathematical techniques. In this book, Kenneth Judd presents techniques from the numerical analysis and applied mathematics literatures and shows how to use them in economic analyses. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides a general introduction. Part II presents basics from numerical analysis on R^n, including linear equations, iterative methods, optimization, nonlinear equations, approximation methods, numerical integration and differentiation, and Monte Carlo methods. Part III covers methods for dynamic problems, including finite difference methods, projection methods, and numerical dynamic programming. Part IV covers perturbation and asymptotic solution methods. Finally, Part V covers applications to dynamic equilibrium analysis, including solution methods for perfect foresight models and rational expectation models. A website contains supplementary material including programs and answers to exercises.

A state-of-the-art introduction to the powerful mathematical and statistical tools used in the field of finance The use of mathematical models and numerical techniques is a practice employed by a growing number of applied mathematicians working on applications in finance. Reflecting this development, Numerical Methods in Finance and Economics: A MATLAB?-Based Introduction, Second Edition bridges the gap between financial theory and computational practice while showing readers how to utilize MATLAB?--the powerful numerical computing environment--for financial applications. The author provides an essential foundation in finance and numerical analysis in addition to background material for students from both engineering and economics perspectives. A wide range of topics is covered, including standard numerical analysis methods, Monte Carlo methods to simulate systems affected by significant uncertainty, and optimization methods to find an optimal set of decisions. Among this book's most outstanding features is the integration of MATLAB?, which helps students and practitioners solve relevant problems in finance, such as portfolio management and derivatives pricing. This tutorial is useful in connecting theory with practice in the application of classical numerical methods and advanced methods, while illustrating underlying algorithmic concepts in concrete terms. Newly featured in the Second Edition: * In-depth treatment of Monte Carlo methods with due attention paid to variance reduction strategies * New appendix on AMPL in order to better illustrate the optimization models in Chapters 11 and 12 * New chapter on binomial and trinomial lattices * Additional treatment of partial differential equations with two space dimensions * Expanded treatment within the chapter on financial theory to provide a more thorough background for engineers not familiar with finance * New coverage of advanced optimization methods and applications later in the text Numerical Methods in Finance and Economics: A MATLAB?-Based Introduction, Second Edition presents basic treatments and more specialized literature, and it also uses algebraic languages, such as AMPL, to connect the pencil-and-paper statement of an optimization model with its solution by a software library. Offering computational practice in both financial engineering and economics fields, this book equips practitioners with the necessary techniques to measure and manage risk.

Computationally-intensive tools play an increasingly important role in financial decisions. Many financial problems—ranging from asset allocation to risk management and from option pricing to model calibration—can be efficiently handled using modern computational techniques. Numerical Methods and Optimization in Finance presents such computational techniques, with an emphasis on simulation and optimization, particularly so-called heuristics. This book treats quantitative analysis as an essentially computational discipline in which applications are put into software form and tested empirically. This revised edition includes two new chapters, a self-contained tutorial on implementing and using heuristics, and an explanation of software used for testing portfolio-selection models. Postgraduate students, researchers in programs on quantitative and computational finance, and practitioners in banks and other financial companies can benefit from this second edition of Numerical Methods and Optimization in Finance. - Introduces numerical methods to readers with economics backgrounds - Emphasizes core simulation and optimization problems - Includes MATLAB and R code for all applications, with sample code in the text and freely available for download

Computing has become essential for the modeling, analysis, and optimization of systems. This book is devoted to algorithms, computational analysis, and decision models. The chapters are organized in two parts: optimization models of decisions and models of pricing and equilibria.

Providing researchers in economics, finance, and statistics with an up-to-date introduction to applying Bayesian techniques to empirical studies, this book covers the full range of the new numerical techniques which have been developed over the last thirty years. Notably, these are: Monte Carlo sampling, antithetic replication, importance sampling, and Gibbs sampling. The author covers both advances in theory and modern approaches to numerical and applied problems, and includes applications drawn from a variety of different fields within economics, while also providing a quick overview of the underlying statistical ideas of Bayesian thought. The result is a book which presents a roadmap of applied economic questions that can now be addressed empirically with Bayesian methods. Consequently, many researchers will find this a readily readable survey of this growing topic.

Computational Economics: A concise introduction is a comprehensive textbook designed to help students move from the traditional and comparative static analysis of economic models, to a modern and dynamic computational study. The ability to equate an economic problem, to formulate it into a mathematical model and to solve it computationally is becoming a crucial and distinctive competence for most economists. This vital textbook is organized around static and dynamic models, covering both macro and microeconomic topics, exploring the numerical techniques required to solve those models. A key aim of the book is to enable students to develop the ability to modify the models themselves so that, using the MATLAB/Octave codes provided on the book and on the website, students can demonstrate a complete understanding of computational methods. This textbook is innovative, easy to read and highly focused, providing students of economics with the skills needed to understand the essentials of using numerical methods to solve economic problems. It also provides more technical readers with an easy way to cope with economics through modelling and simulation. Later in the book, more elaborate economic models and advanced numerical methods are introduced which will prove valuable to those in more advanced study. This book is ideal for all students of economics, mathematics, computer science and engineering taking classes on Computational or Numerical Economics.

Macroeconomics increasingly uses stochastic dynamic general equilibrium models to understand theoretical and policy issues. Unless very strong assumptions are made, understanding the properties of particular models requires solving the model using a computer. This volume brings together leading contributors in the field who explain in detail how to implement the computational techniques needed to solve dynamic economics models. A broad spread of techniques are covered, and their application in a wide range of subjects discussed. The book provides the basics of a toolkit which researchers and graduate students can use to solve and analyse their own theoretical models.

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This book presents a variety of computational methods used to solve dynamic problems in economics and finance. It emphasizes practical numerical methods rather than mathematical proofs and focuses on techniques that apply directly to economic analyses. The examples are drawn from a wide range of subspecialties of economics and finance, with particular emphasis on problems in agricultural and resource economics, macroeconomics, and finance. The book also provides an extensive Web-site library of computer utilities and demonstration programs. The book is divided into two parts. The first part develops basic numerical methods, including linear and nonlinear equation methods, complementarity methods, finite-dimensional optimization, numerical integration and differentiation, and function approximation. The second part presents methods for solving dynamic stochastic models in economics and finance, including dynamic programming, rational expectations, and arbitrage pricing models in discrete and continuous time. The book uses MATLAB to illustrate the algorithms and includes a utilities toolbox to help readers develop their own computational economics applications.