Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Following the increasing necessity of quantitative measures for the impact of natural catastrophes, this paper proposes a new technique for a probabilistic assessment of seismic risk by using publicly available data on the earthquakes that have occurred in Italy. We implement an insurance-oriented methodology to produce a new map of the seismic risk and to evaluate, under various hypotheses, the costs of insuring all the Italian housing units against it. The model is compared with two main privately developed models, well known in the reinsurance industry, providing fairly similar results.

Using an ordinal approach to utility, in the spirit of Hicks (1962, 1967a), it is possible to greatly simplify the theory of asset prices. The basic assumption is to summarize any probability distribution into its moments so that preferences over distributions can be mapped into preferences over vectors of moments. This implies that assets, like Lancaster's (1966) consumption goods, are bundles of characteristics and can be directly priced, at the margin, in terms of the market portfolio. Expected utility is not required and both St.Petersburg and Allais paradoxes may be easily solved.

In this paper we propose a simple, intuitive approach to asset valuation in terms of marginal contributions to the characteristics (moments) of the market portfolio. Considering only the first two moments, mean and variance, the valuation equation is shown to correspond to Sharpe's CAPM. A risk-neutral pricing formula is easily derived, showing the equivalence between CAPM and the Black and Scholes' model. Extensions to higher moments like skewness and kurtosis are straightforward, providing a generalized valuation equation. Finally, the generalized equation is derived in a different, more rigorous way, as a result of a classical intertemporal general equilibrium model.

In this paper we propose a simple approach to asset valuation in terms of two characteristics, expected value and expected variability, and their distinct marginal contributions to the value of the market portfolio. The result is shown to correspond to Sharpe's CAPM. We then show that pricing in terms of characteristics (or CAPM) applies to any asset and in particular to option valuation. A pricing formula corresponding to Black and Scholes' no-arbitrage option pricing is obtained under the assumption of normal asset price distributions.

This paper examines the role of algorithmic trading in modern financial markets. Additionally, order types, characteristics, and special features of algorithmic trading are described under the lens provided by the large development of high frequency trading technology. Special order types are examined together with an intuitive description of the implied dynamics of the order book conditional to special orders (iceberg and hidden). The chapter provides an analysis of the transaction costs associated with trading activity and examines the most common trading strategy employed in the market. It also examines optimal execution strategy with the description of the Efficient Trading Frontier. These concepts represent the tools needed to understand the most recent innovations infinancial markets and the most recent advances in microstructures research.