We develop and implement a portfolio optimization method for building investment portfolios that dominate a given benchmark index in terms of third-degree stochastic dominance. Our approach relies on the properties of the semi-variance function, a refinement of an existing 'super-convex'...

This study develops and implements a theory and method for analyzing whether introducing new securities or relaxing investment constraints improves the investment opportunity set for risk averse investors. We develop a test procedure for ‘stochastic spanning’ for two nested polyhedral...