21. December 2015, Trieste - Piazzetta Vincenzo Bronzin

In Spring 2009, the book on Vinzenz Bronzin, jointly edited by Wolfgang Hafner and Heinz Zimmermann, was published at the Springer Verlag.

Synopsis
In 1908, Vinzenz Bronzin, a professor of mathematics at the Accademia di Commercio e Nautica in Trieste, published a booklet in German entitled "Theorie der Pramiengeschafte" ("Theory of Premium Contracts") which is an old type of option contract. Almost like Bachelier's now famous dissertation (1900), the work seems to have been forgotten shortly after it was published. However, almost every element of modern option pricing can be found in Bronzin's book. He derives option prices for an illustrative set of distributions, including the Normal. This volume includes a reprint of the original German text, a translation, as well as an appreciation of Bronzin's work from various perspectives (economics, history of finance, sociology, economic history) including some details about the professional life and circumstances of the author. The book brings Bronzin's early work to light again and adds an almost forgotten piece of research to the theory of option pricing.
The Book contains a reproduction of the original text (1908) of "Theorie der Prämiengeschäfte", the first translation of that text (by Igor Uszczapowski from Ralph Lemster Financial Translations), biographical details and illustrations about Bronzin's life and work, plus some 20 original papers contributed by a variety of authors from different discplines, organized in four sections: Background and Appraisal of Bronzin’s Work; Cultural and Socio-Historical Background; Trieste; Finance, Economics and Actuarial Science

Contributing Authors
Elena Esposito (Modena), Yvan Lengwiler (Basel), Giorgio Gilibert (Trieste) and Francesco Magris (Paris), Wolfgang Hafner (Windisch), Espen Gardiner Haug (London), Anna Millo (Bari), Ermanno Pitacco(Trieste), Geoffrey Poitras (Canada), Floavio Pressacco (Udine), Josef Schiffer (Graz), Hartmut Schmidt (Hamburg), Ernst Juerg Weber (Western Australia), Heinz Zimmermann (Basel).

Scientific Publications
Hafner W. and H. Zimmermann: “Amazing discovery: Vincenz Bronzin’s Option Pricing Models”, Journal of Banking and Finance 31, 2007, pp. 531-546

Hafner W. and H. Zimmermann: „Vinzenz Bronzin’s Optionspreismodelle in theoretischer und historischer Perspektive“, in: W. Bessler (Ed.): Banken, Börsen und Kapitalmärkte, Festschrift für Hartmut Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag, Duncker & Humblot, 2006, pp. 733-758

Hafner W. and H. Zimmermann: „Vincenz Bronzin’s Option Pricing Theory: Contents, Contribution, and Background”, in: G. Poitras (Ed.): Pioneers of Financial Economics. Volume 1: Contributions Prior to Irving Fisher; Edward Elgar, 2006, chapter 11, pp. 238-264