Optimal Portfolios with Stochastic Interest Rates and Defaultable Assets

Optimal Portfolios with Stochastic Interest Rates and Defaultable Assets
Author: Holger Kraft
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2012-08-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642170412

This thesis summarizes most of my recent research in the field of portfolio optimization. The main topics which I have addressed are portfolio problems with stochastic interest rates and portfolio problems with defaultable assets. The starting point for my research was the paper "A stochastic control ap proach to portfolio problems with stochastic interest rates" (jointly with Ralf Korn), in which we solved portfolio problems given a Vasicek term structure of the short rate. Having considered the Vasicek model, it was obvious that I should analyze portfolio problems where the interest rate dynamics are gov erned by other common short rate models. The relevant results are presented in Chapter 2. The second main issue concerns portfolio problems with default able assets modeled in a firm value framework. Since the assets of a firm then correspond to contingent claims on firm value, I searched for a way to easily deal with such claims in portfolio problems. For this reason, I developed the elasticity approach to portfolio optimization which is presented in Chapter 3. However, this way of tackling portfolio problems is not restricted to portfolio problems with default able assets only, but it provides a general framework allowing for a compact formulation of portfolio problems even if interest rates are stochastic.

Optimal Portfolios

Optimal Portfolios
Author: Ralf Korn
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9812385347

The focus of the book is the construction of optimal investment strategies in a security market model where the prices follow diffusion processes. It begins by presenting the complete Black-Scholes type model and then moves on to incomplete models and models including constraints and transaction costs. The models and methods presented will include the stochastic control method of Merton, the martingale method of Cox-Huang and Karatzas et al., the log optimal method of Cover and Jamshidian, the value-preserving model of Hellwig etc.

Pricing Interest-Rate Derivatives

Pricing Interest-Rate Derivatives
Author: Markus Bouziane
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2008-03-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540770666

The author derives an efficient and accurate pricing tool for interest-rate derivatives within a Fourier-transform based pricing approach, which is generally applicable to exponential-affine jump-diffusion models.

Optimal Portfolios with Stochastic Short Rate

Optimal Portfolios with Stochastic Short Rate
Author: Holger Kraft
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2005
Genre:
ISBN:

The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the problems occuring when one leaves the usual path of portfolio problems with Gaussian interest rates and bounded market price of risk. We solve several portfolio problems for different specifications of the short rate and the market price of risk. More precisely, we consider a Gaussian model, the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model, and squared Gaussian as well as lognormal specifications of the short rate. Even for the seemingly innocent Gaussian model, the problem may explode in a certain sense if the market price of risk is unbounded. From an economic point of view, in this case the model does not exhibit a partial equilibrium indicating that, for instants, the time-preferences of the investor are not properly modeled. This problem can be overcome by introducing short rate depending time preferences. Above all, we strongly emphasize that it is not straightforward to generalize the existing results on continuous-time portfolio optimization to the case of a Non-Gaussian stochastic short rate or to a Gaussian term structure with unbounded market price of risk.

Optimal Risk-Return Trade-Offs of Commercial Banks

Optimal Risk-Return Trade-Offs of Commercial Banks
Author: Jochen Kühn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2006-09-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540348212

This book criticizes the fact that profitability measures derived from capital market models such as the Sharpe ratio and the reward-to-VaR ratio are proposed for loan portfolios, although it is not proven whether their risk-return trade-offs are optimal for banks. The authors demonstrate that even the reward-to-VaR ratio, which is developed for valuating loan portfolios, can be highly misleading. They also show how market discipline, capital requirements, and insured deposits affect decision-making.

Fuzzy Portfolio Optimization

Fuzzy Portfolio Optimization
Author: Yong Fang
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2008-09-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540779264

Most of the existing portfolio selection models are based on the probability theory. Though they often deal with the uncertainty via probabilistic - proaches, we have to mention that the probabilistic approaches only partly capture the reality. Some other techniques have also been applied to handle the uncertainty of the ?nancial markets, for instance, the fuzzy set theory [Zadeh (1965)]. In reality, many events with fuzziness are characterized by probabilistic approaches, although they are not random events. The fuzzy set theory has been widely used to solve many practical problems, including ?nancial risk management. By using fuzzy mathematical approaches, quan- tative analysis, qualitative analysis, the experts’ knowledge and the investors’ subjective opinions can be better integrated into a portfolio selection model. The contents of this book mainly comprise of the authors’ research results for fuzzy portfolio selection problems in recent years. In addition, in the book, the authors will also introduce some other important progress in the ?eld of fuzzy portfolio optimization. Some fundamental issues and problems of po- folioselectionhavebeenstudiedsystematicallyandextensivelybytheauthors to apply fuzzy systems theory and optimization methods. A new framework for investment analysis is presented in this book. A series of portfolio sel- tion models are given and some of them might be more e?cient for practical applications. Some application examples are given to illustrate these models by using real data from the Chinese securities markets.

Complex Systems Approach to Economic Dynamics

Complex Systems Approach to Economic Dynamics
Author: Abraham C.-L. Chian
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2007-08-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540397531

Statistical analysis of stock markets and foreign exchange markets has demonstrated the intermittent nature of economic time series. A nonlinear model of business cycles is able to simulate intermittency arising from order-chaos and chaos-chaos transitions. This monograph introduces new concepts of unstable periodic orbits and chaotic saddles, which are unstable structures embedded in a chaotic attractor and responsible for economic intermittency.