Characterizing asset return dynamics using volatility models is an important part of empirical finance. The existing literature favors some rather complex volatility specifications whose relative performance is usually assessed through their likelihood based on a time-series of asset returns....

The risk-return trade-off being the very substance of finance, volatility has always been an essential parameter for portfolio management. Moreover, the generalization of the use of derivatives has placed in the forefront the concept of volatility risk: i.e. the model risk generated by treating...