A large number of exact inferential procedures in statistics and econometrics involve the sampling distribution of ratios of random variables. If the denominator variable is positive, then tail probabilities of the ratio can be expressed as those of a suitably defined difference of random...

This note discusses some problems possibly arising when approximating via MonteCarlo simulations the distributions of goodness-of-fit test statistics based on the empirical distribution function. We argue that failing to reestimate unknown parameters on each simulated Monte-Carlo sample - and...

This paper analyzes the higher-order properties of nested pseudo-likelihood (NPL) estimators and their practical implementation for parametric discrete Markov decision models in which the probability distribution is defined as a fixed point. We propose a new NPL estimator that can achieve...

This paper presents a tailor-made discrete-time simulation model for valuing path-dependent options, such as lookback option, barrier option and Asian option. In the context of a real-life application that is interest to many students, we illustrate the option pricing by using Quasi Monte Carlo...

An enhanced option pricing framework that makes use of both continuous and discontinuous time paths based on a geometric Brownian motion and Poisson-driven jump processes respectively is performed in order to better fit with real-observed stock price paths while maintaining the analytical...

The implied volatility surface (IVS) is a fundamental building block in computational finance. We provide a survey of methodologies for constructing such surfaces. We also discuss various topics which can influence the successful construction of IVS in practice: arbitrage-free conditions in both...

We consider the problem of reducing the variance of Monte Carlo estimators of multivariate estimation problems by combining the variance reduction techniques Latin hypercube sampling with dependence (LHSD), control variates and importance sampling. Under some standard conditions, the resulting...

A credit-linked note (CLN) on a tranche of the CDX index (partially) protects the holder against default losses in that tranche. The holder receives a specified redemption amount at note maturity. The note is priced using market spread quotes for a matching CDS on this tranche

Correlation coefficients among multiple variables are commonly described in the form of matrices. Applications of such correlation matrices can be found in many fields, such as finance, engineering, statistics, and medicine. This article proposes an efficient way to sequentially obtain the...

In this paper we provide several applications of Gram-Charlier expansions in financial derivative pricing. We first give an exposition on how to calculate swaption prices under a two-factor Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR2) model. Then we apply this method to an extended version of the model (CIR2 ). We...