9,730 research outputs found
Asset pricing and portfolio selection based on the multivariate extended skew-Student-t distribution
The returns on most financial assets exhibit kurtosis and many also have probability distributions that possess skewness as well. In this paper a general multivariate model for the probability distribution of assets returns, which incorporates both kurtosis and skewness, is described. It is based on the multivariate extended skew-Student-t distribution. Salient features of the distribution are described and these are applied to the task of asset pricing. The paper shows that the market model is non-linear in general and that the sensitivity of asset returns to return on the market portfolio is not the same as the conventional beta, although this measure does arise in special cases. It is shown that the variance of asset returns is time varying and depends on the squared deviation of market portfolio return from its location parameter. The first order conditions for portfolio selection are described. Expected utility maximisers will select portfolios from an efficient surface, which is an analogue of the familiar mean-variance frontier, and which may be implemented using quadratic programming
Maximum-likelihood estimation for diffusion processes via closed-form density expansions
This paper proposes a widely applicable method of approximate
maximum-likelihood estimation for multivariate diffusion process from
discretely sampled data. A closed-form asymptotic expansion for transition
density is proposed and accompanied by an algorithm containing only basic and
explicit calculations for delivering any arbitrary order of the expansion. The
likelihood function is thus approximated explicitly and employed in statistical
estimation. The performance of our method is demonstrated by Monte Carlo
simulations from implementing several examples, which represent a wide range of
commonly used diffusion models. The convergence related to the expansion and
the estimation method are theoretically justified using the theory of Watanabe
[Ann. Probab. 15 (1987) 1-39] and Yoshida [J. Japan Statist. Soc. 22 (1992)
139-159] on analysis of the generalized random variables under some standard
sufficient conditions.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOS1118 the Annals of
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Score Function Features for Discriminative Learning: Matrix and Tensor Framework
Feature learning forms the cornerstone for tackling challenging learning
problems in domains such as speech, computer vision and natural language
processing. In this paper, we consider a novel class of matrix and
tensor-valued features, which can be pre-trained using unlabeled samples. We
present efficient algorithms for extracting discriminative information, given
these pre-trained features and labeled samples for any related task. Our class
of features are based on higher-order score functions, which capture local
variations in the probability density function of the input. We establish a
theoretical framework to characterize the nature of discriminative information
that can be extracted from score-function features, when used in conjunction
with labeled samples. We employ efficient spectral decomposition algorithms (on
matrices and tensors) for extracting discriminative components. The advantage
of employing tensor-valued features is that we can extract richer
discriminative information in the form of an overcomplete representations.
Thus, we present a novel framework for employing generative models of the input
for discriminative learning.Comment: 29 page
Smoothing the payoff for efficient computation of Basket option prices
We consider the problem of pricing basket options in a multivariate Black
Scholes or Variance Gamma model. From a numerical point of view, pricing such
options corresponds to moderate and high dimensional numerical integration
problems with non-smooth integrands. Due to this lack of regularity, higher
order numerical integration techniques may not be directly available, requiring
the use of methods like Monte Carlo specifically designed to work for
non-regular problems. We propose to use the inherent smoothing property of the
density of the underlying in the above models to mollify the payoff function by
means of an exact conditional expectation. The resulting conditional
expectation is unbiased and yields a smooth integrand, which is amenable to the
efficient use of adaptive sparse grid cubature. Numerical examples indicate
that the high-order method may perform orders of magnitude faster compared to
Monte Carlo or Quasi Monte Carlo in dimensions up to 35
- …