The theory of stable probability distributions and their domains of attraction is derived in a direct way (avoiding the usual route via infinitely divisible distributions) using Fourier transforms. Regularly varying functions play an important role in the exposition.

Let X1,X2,...Xn be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) non-negative random variables with a common distribution function (d.f.) F with unbounded support and . We show that for a large class of heavy tailed random variables with a finite variance the renewal function U satisfies as...

Suppose are independent subexponential random variables with partial sums. We show that if the pairwise sums of the ’s are subexponential, then is subexponential and . The result is applied to give conditions under which as , where are constants such that is a.s. convergent. Asymptotic tail...

The stability of the financial system at higher loss levels is either characterized by asymptotic dependence or asymptotic independence. If asymptotically independent, the dependency, when present, eventually dies out completely at the more extreme quantiles, as in case of the multivariate...

We use a subsample bootstrap method to get a consistent estimate of the asymptotically optimal choice of the samplefraction, in the sense of minimal mean squared error, which is needed for tail index estimation. Unlike previous methodsour procedure is fully self contained. In particular, the...

We use a subsample bootstrap method to get a consistent estimate of the asymptotically optimal choice of the sample fraction, in the sense of minimal mean squared error, which is needed for tail index estimation. Unlike previous methods our procedure is fully self contained. In particular, the...

We use a subsample bootstrap method to get a consistent estimate of the asymptotically optimal choice of the samplefraction, in the sense of minimal mean squared error, which is needed for tail index estimation. Unlike previous methodsour procedure is fully self contained. In particular, the...

We focus on the impact of migrants' remittances on consumption patterns in China. Using a large homogenous sample of rural households surveyed in 2001 and 2004, we find that remittances are spent on nonhousing consumption expenditures at the margin, virtually dollar-for-dollar, when we...