Normal distribution of the residuals is the traditional assumption in the classicalmultivariate time series models. Nevertheless it is not very often consistent with the real data.Copulae allows for an extension of the classical time series models to nonelliptically distributedresiduals. In this...

Controllability of longer-term interest rates requires that the persis-tence of their deviations from the central bank's policy rate (i.e. thepolicy spreads) remains suffciently low. This paper applies fractionalintegration techniques to assess the persistence of policy spreads ofeuro area money...

As a function of strike and time to maturity the implied volatilityestimation is a challenging task in nancial econometrics. DynamicSemiparametric Factor Models (DSFM) are a model class that allowsfor the estimation of the implied volatility surface (IVS) in a dynamiccontext, employing...

Motivated by a recent demographic study establishing a link betweenmacroeconomic fluctuations and the mortality index kt in the Lee-Cartermodel, we assess the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on the solvencyof a life insurance company. Liabilities in our stochastic simulationframework are...

Modeling the portfolio credit risk is one of the crucial issues of the last yearsin the financial problems. We propose the valuation model of Collateralized DebtObligations based on a one- and two-parameter copula and default intensities estimatedfrom market data. The presented method is used to...

Supported by several recent investigations the empirical pricing kernel paradox might beconsidered as a stylized fact. In Chabi-Yo et al. (2008) simulation studies have been presentedwhich suggest that this paradox might be caused by regime switching of stock prices in financialmarkets....

This paper proposes a novel approach to the combination of conditional covariancematrix forecasts based on the use of the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Itis shown how the procedure can be generalized to deal with large dimensional systemsby means of a two-step strategy. The finite sample...

We study the problem of finding the minimal initial capital needed in order to hedge without risk a barrier option when the vector of proportions of wealth invested in each risky asset is constraint to lie in a closed convex domain...

Risk management and the thorough understanding of the relations betweenfinancial markets and the standard theory of macroeconomics have always been among the topics most addressed by researchers, both financial mathematicians and economists. This work aims at explaining investors behavior from a...

We analyze the two goals behind the European Bologna Process of increasing student mobility: enabling graduates to develop multi-cultural skills and increasing the quality of universities. We isolate three effects: 1) a competition effect that raises quality; 2) a free rider effect that lowers...