We use the Adjusted Present Value (APV) method with Monte Carlo simulations for real estate valuation purposes. Monte Carlo simulations make it possible to incorporate the uncertainty of valuation parameters, in particular of future cash flows, of discount rates and of terminal values. We use...

This paper studies times-to-default of individual firms across risk classes. Using Standard & Poor’s ratings database we investigate common drivers of default probabilities and address two shortcomings of many papers in the credit literature. First, we identify relevant determinants of default...

This paper investigates instantaneous probabilities of default implied by rating and default events. We propose and apply an alternative measurement approach to standard cohort and homogenous hazard estimators. Our estimator is a smooth nonparametric estimator of intensities, free of bias and...

This paper develops a continuous-time model of liquidity provision by banks, in which customers can deposit and withdraw their funds strategically. The strategic withdrawal option introduces an incentive-compatibility problem that turns the problem of designing deposit contracts into a...

We analyze the problem of real optimal asset allocation for a pension fund maximising the expected CRRA utility of its real disposable wealth. The financial horizon of the analysis coincides with the random death time of a representative subscriber. We consider a very general setting where there...

Standard tests designed to identify mutual funds with non-zero alphas are problematic, in that they do not adequately account for the presence of lucky funds. Lucky funds have significant estimated alphas, while their true alphas are equal to zero. To address this issue, this paper quantifies...

In a financial market with one riskless asset and n risky assets following geometric Brownian motions, we solve the problem of a pension fund maximizing the expected CRRA utility of its terminal wealth. By considering a stochastic death time for a subscriber, we solve a unique problem for both...

The allocation to real estate by institutional investors has increased in recent years and as a result the gap between suggested and actual allocations has narrowed. The increased inflow of capital to the real estate market is suggested to be a function of two factors: An increased focus on...

We investigate the consequences for value-at-risk and expected short-fall purposes of using a GARCH filter on various mis-specified processes. We show that careful investigation of the adequacy of the GARCH filter is necessary since under mis-specifications a GARCH filter appears to do more harm...

We evaluate how deviations from normality may affect the allocation of assets. A Taylor expansion of expected utility allows us to focus on certain moments and to compute numerically the optimal portfolio allocation. A decisive advantage of our approach is that it remains operational even if a...