We present conditions under which positive alpha exists in the realm of active portfolio management - in contrast to the controversial result in (Jarrow (2010) which implicates delegated portfolio management by surmising that positive alphas are illusionary. Specifically, we show that the...

This paper addresses questions regarding the dimensionality of the stochastic discount factor and the selection of the best factors that enter it. We analyze these questions theoretically and empirically with a novel methodology which performs both (i) estimation of factor loadings and (ii) best...

A random variable dominates another random variable with respect to the covariance order if the covariance of any two monotone increasing functions of this variable is smaller. We characterize completely the covariance order, give strong sufficient conditions for it, present a number of examples...

This paper introduces a model-free decomposition of S&P 500 forward market index returns in terms of realized and implied dispersion, downside, and tail risk using option portfolios. The decomposition lends itself by construction to learn about the different sources of risk in the market return,...

In this paper, we show that the calibration to an implied volatility surface and the pricing of contingent claims can be as simple in a jump-diffusion framework as in a diffusion one. Indeed, after defining the jump densities as those of diffusions sampled at independent and exponentially...

This paper presents an analytic approximation formula for pricing zero-coupon bonds, when the dynamics of the short-term interest rate are driven by a one-factor mean-reverting process in which changes in the volatility of the interest rate are a function of the level of the interest rate

In this paper we consider a general class of diffusion-based models and show that, even in the absence of an Equivalent Local Martingale Measure, the financial market may still be viable, in the sense that strong forms of arbitrage are excluded and portfolio optimisation problems can be...

For years, research has been conducted to correctly model and predict the risk and return structures of Private Equity (PE) funds. Although past research has revealed valuable insight into the features of those funds, most risk and return model struggle with the dispersion of PE funds' returns,...

Subordination is an often used stochastic process in modeling asset prices. Subordinated Levy price processes and local volatility price processes are now the main tools in modern dynamic asset pricing theory. In this paper, we introduce the theory of multiple internally embedded financial...

In this work we show how the techniques introduced by Hurd and Zhou can be used to derive a pricing framework for rainbow options by using the joint characteristic function of the logarithm of the underlying assets. Semi-analytic formulae will be achieved by splitting the symbol, applying...