Raimondo Manca - Böcker

Aims to give to the reader the tools necessary to apply semi-Markov processes in real-life problems.The book is self-contained and, starting from a low level of probability concepts, gradually brings the reader to a deep knowledge of semi-Markov processes.Presents homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes, as well as Markov and semi-Markov rewards processes.The concepts are fundamental for many applications, but they are not as thoroughly presented in other books on the subject as they are here.

This book aims to give a complete and self-contained presentation of semi- Markov models with finitely many states, in view of solving real life problems of risk management in three main fields: Finance, Insurance and Reliability providing a useful complement to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) which gives a theoretical presentation of semi-Markov theory. However, to help assure the book is self-contained, the first three chapters provide a summary of the basic tools on semi-Markov theory that the reader will need to understand our presentation. For more details, we refer the reader to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) whose notations, definitions and results have been used in these four first chapters. Nowadays, the potential for theoretical models to be used on real-life problems is severely limited if there are no good computer programs to process the relevant data. We therefore systematically propose the basic algorithms so that effective numerical results can be obtained. Another important feature of this book is its presentation of both homogeneous and non-homogeneous models. It is well known that the fundamental structure of many real-life problems is n- homogeneous in time, and the application of homogeneous models to such problems gives, in the best case, only approximated results or, in the worst case, nonsense results.

Aims to give to the reader the tools necessary to apply semi-Markov processes in real-life problems.The book is self-contained and, starting from a low level of probability concepts, gradually brings the reader to a deep knowledge of semi-Markov processes.Presents homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes, as well as Markov and semi-Markov rewards processes.The concepts are fundamental for many applications, but they are not as thoroughly presented in other books on the subject as they are here.

This book aims to give a complete and self-contained presentation of semi- Markov models with finitely many states, in view of solving real life problems of risk management in three main fields: Finance, Insurance and Reliability providing a useful complement to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) which gives a theoretical presentation of semi-Markov theory. However, to help assure the book is self-contained, the first three chapters provide a summary of the basic tools on semi-Markov theory that the reader will need to understand our presentation. For more details, we refer the reader to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) whose notations, definitions and results have been used in these four first chapters. Nowadays, the potential for theoretical models to be used on real-life problems is severely limited if there are no good computer programs to process the relevant data. We therefore systematically propose the basic algorithms so that effective numerical results can be obtained. Another important feature of this book is its presentation of both homogeneous and non-homogeneous models. It is well known that the fundamental structure of many real-life problems is n- homogeneous in time, and the application of homogeneous models to such problems gives, in the best case, only approximated results or, in the worst case, nonsense results.

This book provides a detailed study of Financial Mathematics. In addition to the extraordinary depth the book provides, it offers a study of the axiomatic approach that is ideally suited for analyzing financial problems. This book is addressed to MBA's, Financial Engineers, Applied Mathematicians, Banks, Insurance Companies, and Students of Business School, of Economics, of Applied Mathematics, of Financial Engineering, Banks, and more.

Quantitative finance has become these last years a extraordinary field of research and interest as well from an academic point of view as for practical applications. At the same time, pension issue is clearly a major economical and financial topic for the next decades in the context of the well-known longevity risk. Surprisingly few books are devoted to application of modern stochastic calculus to pension analysis.The aim of this book is to fill this gap and to show how recent methods of stochastic finance can be useful for to the risk management of pension funds. Methods of optimal control will be especially developed and applied to fundamental problems such as the optimal asset allocation of the fund or the cost spreading of a pension scheme.  In these various problems, financial as well as demographic risks will be addressed and modelled.

The aim of this book is to promote interaction between engineering, finance and insurance, as these three domains have many models and methods of solution in common for solving real-life problems. The authors point out the strict inter-relations that exist among the diffusion models used in engineering, finance and insurance. In each of the three fields, the basic diffusion models are presented and their strong similarities are discussed. Analytical, numerical and Monte Carlo simulation methods are explained with a view to applying them to obtain the solutions to the different problems presented in the book. Advanced topics such as nonlinear problems, Lévy processes and semi-Markov models in interactions with the diffusion models are discussed, as well as possible future interactions among engineering, finance and insurance.

With the impact of the recent financial crises, more attention must be given to new models in finance rejecting “Black-Scholes-Samuelson” assumptions leading to what is called non-Gaussian finance. With the growing importance of Solvency II, Basel II and III regulatory rules for insurance companies and banks, value at risk (VaR) – one of the most popular risk indicator techniques plays a fundamental role in defining appropriate levels of equities. The aim of this book is to show how new VaR techniques can be built more appropriately for a crisis situation.VaR methodology for non-Gaussian finance looks at the importance of VaR in standard international rules for banks and insurance companies; gives the first non-Gaussian extensions of VaR and applies several basic statistical theories to extend classical results of VaR techniques such as the NP approximation, the Cornish-Fisher approximation, extreme and a Pareto distribution. Several non-Gaussian models using Copula methodology, Lévy processes along with particular attention to models with jumps such as the Merton model are presented; as are the consideration of time homogeneous and non-homogeneous Markov and semi-Markov processes and for each of these models.

This book presents basic stochastic processes, stochastic calculus including Lévy processes on one hand, and Markov and Semi Markov models on the other. From the financial point of view, essential concepts such as the Black and Scholes model, VaR indicators, actuarial evaluation, market values, fair pricing play a central role and will be presented.The authors also present basic concepts so that this series is relatively self-contained for the main audience formed by actuaries and particularly with ERM (enterprise risk management) certificates, insurance risk managers, students in Master in mathematics or economics and people involved in Solvency II for insurance companies and in Basel II and III for banks.

This book introduces ALM in the context of banks and insurance companies. Although this strategy has a core of fundamental frameworks, models may vary between banks and insurance companies because of the different risks and goals involved. The authors compare and contrast these methodologies to draw parallels between the commonalities and divergences of these two services and thereby provide a deeper understanding of ALM in general.