The Markowitz mean–variance portfolio optimization problem is a quadratic programming problem whose first-order conditions require the solution of a linear system. It is well known that the optimal portfolio weights are sensitive to parameter estimates, particularly the mean return vector....

The Markowitz mean-variance portfolio optimization problem is a quadratic programming problem whose first-order conditions require the solution of a linear system. It is well known that the optimal portfolio weights are sensitive to parameter estimates, particularly the mean return vector. This...

Public sector managers, particularly those at the highest level of government, tend to view lapsed (or unused) funds at the end of a fiscal year as a consequence of poor management and/or inadequate financial controls. The aim of this paper is to challenge this view. We show that the planning...