Derivatives on the Chicago Board Options Exchange volatility index (VIX) have gained significant popularity over the last decade. The pricing of VIX derivatives involves evaluating the square root of the expected realised variance which cannot be computed by direct Monte Carlo methods. Least...

In several scientific fields, like bioinformatics, financial and macro-economics, important theoretical and practical issues exist that involve multimodal data distributions. We propose a Bayesian approach using mixtures distributions to approximate accurately such data distributions. Shape and...

Instructors and researchers have used the ‘flow' of knowledge (post-test score minus pre-test score) to measure learning in the classroom for the past fifty years. Walstad and Wagner (2016) and Smith and Wagner (2018) move this practice forward by disag- gregating the flow of knowledge and...

This paper develops an unbiased Monte Carlo approximation to the transition density of a jump-diffusion process with state-dependent drift, volatility, jump intensity, and jump magnitude. The approximation is used to construct a likelihood estimator of the parameters of a jump-diffusion observed...

This paper provides some test cases, called circuits, for the evaluation of Gaussian likelihood maximization algorithms of the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. Both I(1) and I(2) models are considered. The performance of algorithms is compared first in terms of effectiveness, defined as...

We propose two robust bootstrap-based simultaneous inference methods for time series models featuring time-varying coefficients and conduct an extensive simulation study to assess their performance. Our exploration covers a wide range of scenarios, encompassing serially correlated,...

Credit value adjustment (CVA) and related charges have emerged as important risk factors following the Global Financial Crisis. These charges depend on uncertain future values of underlying products, and are usually computed by Monte Carlo simulation. For products that cannot be valued...

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have an important role in solving high dimensionality stochastic problems characterized by computational complexity. Given their critical importance, there is need for network and security risk management research to relate the MCMC quantitative...

I develop a new method for approximating and estimating nonlinear, non-Gaussian state space models. I show that any such model can be well approximated by a discrete-state Markov process and estimated using techniques developed in Hamilton (1989). Through Monte Carlo simulations, I demonstrate...

In this paper, we propose a novel investment strategy for portfolio optimization problems. The proposed strategy maximizes the expected portfolio value bounded within a targeted range, composed of a conservative lower target representing a need for capital protection and a desired upper target...