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...

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...

The Basel II Accord requires that banks and other Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) communicate their daily risk forecasts to the appropriate monetary authorities at the beginning of each trading day, using one or more risk models to measure Value-at-Risk (VaR). The risk estimates of...

We study the empirical performance of alternative risk and reward specifications in portfolio selection. In particular, we look at models that take into account asymmetry of returns, and treat losses and gains differently. In tests on a dataset of German equities we find that portfolios...

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...