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Present Value

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Abstract

The present value relation says that, under certainty, the value of a capital good or financial asset equals the summed discounted value of the stream of revenues which that asset generates. Otherwise arbitrage would be possible. Under uncertainty, and if risk neutrality is assumed, the future payoffs are replaced by their conditional expectations. Under risk aversion either the natural probability measure under which expectations are taken must be replaced by a ‘risk-neutral measure’, or the discount factor must be modified by a factor that reflects risk. The present value relation leads to bubbles if a convergence condition is not satisfied.

This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume

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LeRoy, S.F. (2008). Present Value. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1387-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1387-2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Present Value
    Published:
    11 March 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1387-2

  2. Original

    Present Value
    Published:
    22 November 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1387-1