A heteropolymer in a medium with random droplets

We define a heteropolymer in a medium with random droplets. We prove that for this model we have two regimes: a delocalized one and a localized one. In the localized regime we prove tightness to the droplets, whereas in the delocalized regime we prove diffusive path behavior.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051606000000231 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Asymptotic Value-at-Risk Estimates for Sums of Dependent Random Variables

We estimate Value-at-Risk for sums of dependent random variables. We model multivariate dependent random variables using archimedean copulas. This structure allows one to calculate the asymptotic behaviour of extremal events. An important application of such results are Value-at-Risk estimates for sums of dependent random variable

Claims Reserving Using Tweedie's Compound Poisson Model

We consider the problem of claims reserving and estimating run-off triangles. We generalize the gamma cell distributions model which leads to Tweedie's compound Poisson model. Choosing a suitable parametrization, we estimate the parameters of our model within the framework of generalized linear models (see Jørgensen-de Souza [2] and Smyth-Jørgensen [8]). We show that these methods lead to reasonable estimates of the outstanding loss liabilitie

Chain ladder method: Bayesian bootstrap versus classical bootstrap

The intention of this paper is to estimate a Bayesian distribution-free chain ladder (DFCL) model using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) methodology. We demonstrate how to estimate quantities of interest in claims reserving and compare the estimates to those obtained from classical and credibility approaches. In this context, a novel numerical procedure utilising Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), ABC and a Bayesian bootstrap procedure was developed in a truly distribution-free setting. The ABC methodology arises because we work in a distribution-free setting in which we make no parametric assumptions, meaning we can not evaluate the likelihood point-wise or in this case simulate directly from the likelihood model. The use of a bootstrap procedure allows us to generate samples from the intractable likelihood without the requirement of distributional assumptions, this is crucial to the ABC framework. The developed methodology is used to obtain the empirical distribution of the DFCL model parameters and the predictive distribution of the outstanding loss liabilities conditional on the observed claims. We then estimate predictive Bayesian capital estimates, the Value at Risk (VaR) and the mean square error of prediction (MSEP). The latter is compared with the classical bootstrap and credibility methods