The relationship between risk, return and the cost of capital is contextualized by relating it to the needs of investors and borrowers, the historical evidence, and theories of choice and behavior. The text spans financial theory, its empirical tests and applications to real-world financial problems while keeping an entertaining easy-to-read style.

Asset bubbles and contagion have had a profound effect on the financial markets after the financial and sovereign debt crises. This book takes a quantitative approach to examining these phenomena and will appeal to practitioners who need to understand the repercussions of these events on trading exchanges and the markets.