Although three decades have passed since the first publication of this book, it is reprinted now as a result of popular demand. The content remains up-to-date and interesting for many researchers as is shown by the many references to it in current publications. The author is one of the leading experts of the field and gives an authoritative treatment of a subject.

This textbook offers an approachable introduction to stochastic processes that explores the four pillars of random walk, branching processes, Brownian motion, and martingales. Building from simple examples, the authors focus on developing context and intuition before formalizing the theory of each topic. This inviting approach illuminates the key ideas and computations in the proofs, forming an ideal basis for further study. Consisting of many short chapters, the book begins with a comprehensive account of the simple random walk in one dimension. From here, different paths may be chosen according to interest. Themes span Poisson processes, branching processes, the Kolmogorov–Chentsov theorem, martingales, renewal theory, and Brownian motion. Special topics follow, showcasing a selection of important contemporary applications, including mathematical finance, optimal stopping, ruin theory, branching random walk, and equations of fluids. Engaging exercises accompany the theory throughout. Random Walk, Brownian Motion, and Martingales is an ideal introduction to the rigorous study of stochastic processes. Students and instructors alike will appreciate the accessible, example-driven approach. A single, graduate-level course in probability is assumed.

'Algorithms to Live By' looks at the simple, precise algorithms that computers use to solve the complex 'human' problems that we face, and discovers what they can tell us about the nature and origin of the mind.

This book is devoted to problems of stochastic control and stopping that are time inconsistent in the sense that they do not admit a Bellman optimality principle. These problems are cast in a game-theoretic framework, with the focus on subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium strategies. The general theory is illustrated with a number of finance applications. In dynamic choice problems, time inconsistency is the rule rather than the exception. Indeed, as Robert H. Strotz pointed out in his seminal 1955 paper, relaxing the widely used ad hoc assumption of exponential discounting gives rise to time inconsistency. Other famous examples of time inconsistency include mean-variance portfolio choice and prospect theory in a dynamic context. For such models, the very concept of optimality becomes problematic, as the decision maker’s preferences change over time in a temporally inconsistent way. In this book, a time-inconsistent problem is viewed as a non-cooperative game between the agent’s current and future selves, with the objective of finding intrapersonal equilibria in the game-theoretic sense. A range of finance applications are provided, including problems with non-exponential discounting, mean-variance objective, time-inconsistent linear quadratic regulator, probability distortion, and market equilibrium with time-inconsistent preferences. Time-Inconsistent Control Theory with Finance Applications offers the first comprehensive treatment of time-inconsistent control and stopping problems, in both continuous and discrete time, and in the context of finance applications. Intended for researchers and graduate students in the fields of finance and economics, it includes a review of the standard time-consistent results, bibliographical notes, as well as detailed examples showcasing time inconsistency problems. For the reader unacquainted with standard arbitrage theory, an appendix provides a toolbox of material needed for the book.