In certain cases the distribution of the normalized maximumof a sample can be better approximated by a sequence ofdifferent extreme value distributions than by the final one. Weshow that these cases are rather restricted and that the possibleimprovement is not spectacular.

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...

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 varyingfunctions play an important role in the exposition.

In certain cases partial sums of i.i.d. random variables with finite variance are better approximated by asequence of stable distributions with indices alpha n - 2 than by a normal distribution. We discusswhen this happens and how much the convergence rate can be improved by using penultimate...