The generalized asymmetric Laplace (GAL) distribution, also known as the variance/mean-gamma model, is a popular flexible class of distributions that can account for peakedness, skewness, and heavier than normal tails, often observed in financial or other empirical data. We consider extensions...

Multivariate random sums appear in many scientific fields, most notably in actuarial science, where they model both the number of claims and their sizes. Unfortunately, they pose severe inferential problems. For example, their density function is analytically intractable, in the general case,...

There is considerable literature on matrix-variate gamma distributions, also known as Wishart distributions, which are driven by a shape parameter with values in the (Gindikin) set {i/2, i = 1, . . . , k−1}∪((k−1)/2, ∞). We provide an extension of this class to the case where the shape...

We find that the degree and dynamics of sovereign bond market integration across 21 developed and 18 emerging countries is significantly heterogeneous. We show that better spanning can significantly enhance market integration through dissipating local risk premiums. Integration of the sovereign...

Hedge funds offer desirable risk-return profiles; but we also find high management fees, lack of transparency and worse, very limited liquidity (they are often closed to new investors and disinvestment fees can be prohibitive). This creates an incentive to replicate the attractive features of...

A major inconvenience of the traditional approach in portfolio choice, based upon historical information, is its inability to anticipate sudden changes of price tendencies. Introducing information about future behavior of the assets fundamentals may help to make more appropiate choices. However...

We construct portfolios with an alternative selection criterion, the Omega function, which can be expressed as the ratio of two partial moments of the returns distribution. Finding Omega-optimal portfolios, in particular under realistic constraints like cardinality restrictions, requires to...

This article analyzes the effect of liquidity risk on the performance of various hedge fund portfolio strategies. Similarly to Avramov et al. (2007), we find that, before accounting for the effect of liquidity risk, hedge fund portfolios that incorporate predictability in managerial skills...

This study presents a hedge fund portfolio choice model for an investor facing ambiguity. In the empirical section, we measure ambiguity as the cross-sectional dispersion in Industrial Production growth and in stock market return forecasts, and we construct the systematic ambiguity factors from...