Comparison of macroeconomic simulation models, particularly agent-based models (ABMs), with more traditional approaches such as VAR and DSGE models has long been identified as an important yet problematic issue in the literature. This is due to the fact that many such simulations have been...

Macroeconomic analysis in Lebanon presents a distinct challenge. For example, long delays in the publication of GDP data mean that our analysis often relies on proxy variables, and resembles an extended version of the 'nowcasting' challenge familiar to many central banks. Addressing this...

In this article, the Universal Approximation Theorem of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is applied to the SABR stochastic volatility model in order to construct highly efficient representations. Initially, the SABR approximation of Hagan et al. [2002] is considered, then a more accurate...

This paper will outline the functionality available in the CovRegpy package for actuarial practitioners, wealth managers, fund managers, and portfolio analysts written in Python 3.7. The major contributions of CovRegpy can be found in the CovRegpy_DCC.py, CovRegpy_IFF.py, CovRegpy_RCR.py,...

We examine the impact of temporal and portfolio aggregation on the quality of Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasts over a horizon of ten trading days for a well-diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and alternative investments. The VaR forecasts are constructed based on daily, weekly or biweekly...

We propose two novel methods to "bring ABMs to the data". First, we put forward a new Bayesian procedure to estimate the numerical values of ABM parameters that takes into account the time structure of simulated and observed time series. Second, we propose a method to forecast aggregate time...

In this paper we introduce a calibration procedure for validating of agent based models. Starting from the well-known financial model of Brock and Hommes 1998, we show how an appropriate calibration enables the model to describe price time series. We formulate the calibration problem as a...

This paper presents a simulative model of a financial market, based on a fully operating order book with limit and market orders. The heterogeneity of traders is characterized not only with regards to their trading rules, but also by introducing a behavioral individual risk aversion and a...

Marketing expenditures in the form of pricing, product development, promotion and channel development are made to maximize return on investment. A challenge in evaluating the effectiveness of these expenditures is that decisions such as whether to lower prices or run promotions are made based on...

The papers in this special issue of Mathematics and Computers in Simulation cover the following topics: improving judgmental adjustment of model-based forecasts, whether forecast updates are progressive, on a constrained mixture vector autoregressive model, whether all estimators are born equal:...