Effectiveness of Measures of Performance During Speculative Bubbles

Statistical analysis of financial data most focused on testing the validity of Brownian motion (Bm). Analysis performed on several time series have shown deviation from the Bm hypothesis, that is at the base of the evaluation of many financial derivatives. We inquiry in the behavior of measures of performance based on maximum drawdown movements (MDD), testing their stability when the underlying process deviates from the Bm hypothesis. In particular we consider the fractional Brownian motion (fBm), and fluctuations estimated empirically on raw market data. The case study of the rising part of speculative bubbles is reported

Complex-valued information entropy measure for networks with directed links (digraphs). Application to citations by community agents with opposite opinions

The notion of complex-valued information entropy measure is presented. It applies in particular to directed networks (digraphs). The corresponding statistical physics notions are outlined. The studied network, serving as a case study, in view of illustrating the discussion, concerns citations by agents belonging to two distinct communities which have markedly different opinions: the Neocreationist and Intelligent Design Proponents, on one hand, and the Darwinian Evolution Defenders, on the other hand. The whole, intra- and inter-community adjacency matrices, resulting from quotations of published work by the community agents, are elaborated and eigenvalues calculated. Since eigenvalues can be complex numbers, the information entropy may become also complex-valued. It is calculated for the illustrating case. The role of the imaginary part finiteness is discussed in particular and given some physical sense interpretation through local interaction range consideration. It is concluded that such generalizations are not only interesting and necessary for discussing directed networks, but also may give new insight into conceptual ideas about directed or other networks. Notes on extending the above to Tsallis entropy measure are found in an Appendix.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 4 Tables, 72 refs.; submitted to EPJ

Complex network analysis and nonlinear dynamics

This chapter aims at reviewing complex network and nonlinear dynamical models and methods that were either developed for or applied to socioeconomic issues, and pertinent to the theme of New Economic Geography. After an introduction to the foundations of the field of complex networks, the present summary introduces some applications of complex networks to economics, finance, epidemic spreading of innovations, and regional trade and developments. The chapter also reviews results involving applications of complex networks to other relevant socioeconomic issue

Long run analysis of crude oil portfolios

This paper deals with the analysis of the long-run behavior of a set of mispricing portfolios generated by three crude oils, where one of the oils is the reference commodity and it is compared to a combination of the other two ones. To this aim, the long-term parameter related to the mispricing portfolio are estimated on empirical data. We pay particular attention to the cases of mispricing portfolios either of stationary type or following a Brownian motion: the former situation is associated to replication portfolios of a reference commodity; the latter one allows to implement forecasts. The theoretical setting is validated through empirical data on WTI, Brent and Dubai oils

Complex networks analysis in socioeconomic models

This chapter aims at reviewing complex networks models and methods that were either developed for or applied to socioeconomic issues, and pertinent to the theme of New Economic Geography. After an introduction to the foundations of the field of complex networks, the present summary adds insights on the statistical mechanical approach, and on the most relevant computational aspects for the treatment of these systems. As the most frequently used model for interacting agent-based systems, a brief description of the statistical mechanics of the classical Ising model on regular lattices, together with recent extensions of the same model on small-world Watts-Strogatz and scale-free Albert-Barabasi complex networks is included. Other sections of the chapter are devoted to applications of complex networks to economics, finance, spreading of innovations, and regional trade and developments. The chapter also reviews results involving applications of complex networks to other relevant socioeconomic issues, including results for opinion and citation networks. Finally, some avenues for future research are introduced before summarizing the main conclusions of the chapter.Comment: 39 pages, 185 references, (not final version of) a chapter prepared for Complexity and Geographical Economics - Topics and Tools, P. Commendatore, S.S. Kayam and I. Kubin Eds. (Springer, to be published

Contagion in the world's stock exchanges seen as a set of coupled oscillators

URL des Documents de travail : http://ces.univ-paris1.fr/cesdp/cesdp2015.htmlDocuments de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 2015.78 - ISSN: 1955-611XWe study how the phenomenon of contagion can take place in the network of the world's stock exchanges when each stock exchange acts as an integrate-and-fire oscillator. The characteristic non-linear price behavior of the integrate-and-fire oscillators is supported by empirical data and has a behavioral origin. One advantage of the integrate-and-fire dynamics is that it enables for a direct identification of cause and effect of price movements, without the need for statistical statistical tests such as for example Granger causality tests often used in the identification of causes of contagion. Our methodology can thereby identify the most relevant nodes with respect to onset of contagion in the network of stock exchanges, as well as identify potential periods of high vulnerability of the network. The model is characterized by a separation of time scales created by a slow build up of stresses, for example due to (say monthly/yearly) macroeconomic factors and then a fast (say hourly/daily) release of stresses through “price-quakes” of price movements across the worlds network of stock exchanges

On the maximum drawdown during speculative bubbles

A taxonomy of large financial crashes proposed in the literature locates the burst of speculative bubbles due to endogenous causes in the framework of extreme stock market crashes, defined as falls of market prices that are outlier with respect to the bulk of drawdown price movement distribution. This paper goes on deeper in the analysis providing a further characterization of the rising part of such selected bubbles through the examination of drawdown and maximum drawdown movement of indices prices. The analysis of drawdown duration is also performed and it is the core of the risk measure estimated here.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

“Price-Quakes” Shaking the World's Stock Exchanges

Background: Systemic risk has received much more awareness after the excessive risk taking by major financial instituations pushed the world’s financial system into what many considered a state of near systemic failure in 2008. The IMF for example in its yearly 2009 Global Financial Stability Report acknowledged the lack of proper tools and research on the topic. Understanding how disruptions can propagate across financial markets is therefore of utmost importance. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we use empirical data to show that the world’s markets have a non-linear threshold response to events, consistent with the hypothesis that traders exhibit change blindness. Change blindness is the tendency of humans to ignore small changes and to react disproportionately to large events. As we show, this may be responsible for generating cascading events—pricequakes—in the world’s markets. We propose a network model of the world’s stock exchanges that predicts how an individual stock exchange should be priced in terms of the performance of the global market of exchanges, but with change blindness included in the pricing. The model has a direct correspondence to models of earth tectonic plate movements developed in physics to describe the slip-stick movement of blocks linked via spring forces. Conclusions/Significance: We have shown how the price dynamics of the world’s stock exchanges follows a dynamics of build-up and release of stress, similar to earthquakes. The nonlinear response allows us to classify price movements of a given stock index as either being generated internally, due to specific economic news for the country in question, or externally, by the ensemble of the world’s stock exchanges reacting together like a complex system. The model may provide new insight into the origins and thereby also prevent systemic risks in the global financial network

Validation and application of a quantitative real-time PCR assay to detect common wheat adulteration of durum wheat for pasta production

Pasta is the Italian product par excellence and it is now popular worldwide. Pasta of a superior quality is made with pure durum wheat. In Italy, addition of Triticum aestivum (common wheat) during manufacturing is not allowed and, without adequate labeling, its presence is considered an adulteration. PCRrelated techniques can be employed for the detection of common wheat contaminations. In this work, we demonstrated that a previously published method for the detection of T. aestivum, based on the gliadin gene, is inadequate. Moreover, a new molecular method, based on DNA extraction from semolina and real-time PCR determination of T. aestivum in Triticum spp., was validated. This multiplex real-time PCR, based on the dual-labeled probe strategy, guarantees target detection specificity and sensitivity in a short period of time. Moreover, the molecular analysis of common wheat contamination in commercial wheat and flours is described for the first time