The main objective of this thesis is to simulate, evaluate and discuss three standard methodologies of calculating Value-at-Risk (VaR) : Historical simulation, the Variance-covariance method and Monte Carlo simulations. Historical simulation is the most common nonparametric method. The Variance-covariance and Monte Carlo simulations are widely used parametric methods. This thesis defines the three aforementioned VaR methodologies, and uses each to calculate 1-day VaR for a hypothetical portfolio through MATLAB simulations. The evaluation of the results shows that historical simulation yields the most reliable 1-day VaR for the hypothetical portfolio under extreme market conditions. Finally, this paper concludes with a suggestion for further studies : a heavy-tail distribution should be used in order to imporve the accuracy of the results for the two parametric methods used in this study. / by Kyong Chung. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The main objective of this thesis is to simulate, evaluate and discuss several methods for pricing European-style options. The Black-Scholes model has long been considered the standard method for pricing options. One of the downfalls of the Black-Scholes model is that it is strictly continuous and does not incorporate discrete jumps. This thesis will consider two alternate Levy models that include discretized jumps; The Merton Jump Diffusion and Kou's Double Exponential Jump Diffusion. We will use each of the three models to price real world stock data through software simulations and explore the results.Keywords: Levy Processes, Brownian motion, Option pricing, Simulation, Black-Scholes, Merton Jump Diffusion, Kou, Kou's Double Exponential Jump Diffusion. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:49:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Rodrigues dos Santos.pdf: 692521 bytes, checksum: e36185a3085ddc7f3cb3dec644dbf6ad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-20 / Banco Daycoval S.A. / This work aims to understand what are the main determinants and behavior of commodity prices since the end of the Bretton Woods System , in 1971. Among the main factors usually found in the literature as influential in commodity prices, we have supply expansion resulting from the integration of the soviet cowntries to the world economy, the increase in demand, as a result of economic growth in Asia, particularly China, the interest low levels and exchange rate relationship between the dollar and other reserve currencies and the demand for speculative reason. It also describes changes in the prices of commoditites between 1971 and 2008, enclosed in large frame movements, the first high from 1971 until the shock of Volker, the second of stagnation, due to high interest rates and oversupply commoditites, the third, lift, in response to low real interest rates, rapid economic growth and excess of international liquidity, and finally, the decline, reflecting the effects of global financial crisis in 2007-08. To complement the analysis, commodity prices are arrelated to key macroeconomic variables, to study the behavior of the data, considering the factors mentioned as determinants / Este trabalho visa compreender quais são os principais determinantes e o comportamento dos preços das commodities, desde o fim do Sistema Bretton Woods, em 1971 até 2009. Entre os principais fatores apontados na literatura como influentes nos preços de commodities estão a expansão da oferta, decorrente da integração da ex-URSS à economia mundial; o aumento da demanda, em conseqüência do crescimento asiático, chinês em particular; a manutenção dos juros em patamares baixos e a relação cambial entre o dólar e as outras moedas de reserva, além da demanda por motivo especulação. Também são descritas as variações nos preços das commoditites no mesmo período, delimitadas em quatro grandes movimentos: o primeiro de alta, de 1971 até o choque de Volker, em 1980; o segundo de estagnação, devido à taxa de juros elevada e o excesso de oferta de commoditites; o terceiro, de elevação, em resposta aos juros reais baixos, crescimento econômico acelerado e excesso de liquidez internacional; e por último, o declínio, refletindo os efeitos da crise financeira mundial de 2007-08. Para complementar a análise, relaciona-se os preços das commodities às principais variáveis macroeconômicas, para estudar o comportamento dos dados, considerando os fatores apontados como determinantes

O setor primário da região de Marília tem passado por crises periódicas, em função do comportamento cíclico de preços e produção do café, sua principal atividade agropecuária. Com isso, a receita dos cafeicultores está sujeita a sensíveis oscilações a cada ano, sugerindo um elevado nível de risco econômico. Como parte do Projeto de Apoio à Competitividade Global da Cultura do Maracujazeiro na Região de Vera Cruz, SP - AFRUVEC/Bioex-CNPq essa dissertação tem como objetivo avaliar o comportamento dos cafeicultores da região de Marília na presença do risco. Uma vez que o grau de aversão ao risco dos agricultores é refletido na escolha dos planos de exploração agropecuária, inicialmente desenvolveu-se uma metodologia para identificar os sistemas de produção de café existentes na região. Essa identificação baseou-se na elaboração e análise de grupos focais e validação dos resultados através de análise discriminante. Assim, foram identificados os sistemas "monocultura de café", "cafeicultura e pecuária" e "pequena propriedade diversificada". Posteriormente, selecionou-se uma propriedade típica de cada sistema para o estudo do comportamento dos agricultores perante o risco. A programação linear foi a técnica utilizada na modelagem dos sistemas de produção. Para a geração das fronteiras de eficiência, que refletem o trade-off entre rendimento e risco, foi empregado o MOTAD. Os resultados dessa pesquisa indicam que o produtor do sistema cafeicultura e pecuária é mais averso ao risco do que o monocultor. Esse comportamento era esperado, pois as margens brutas da pecuária são negativamente correlacionadas com as do café, indicando que a combinação dessas atividades é eficiente do ponto de vista da redução do risco. No entanto, constatou-se que o pequeno produtor diversificado é menos averso ao risco do que o monocultor, contrariando as hipóteses iniciais do trabalho. Esse comportamento pode ser explicado pela estratégia de diversificação adotada pelo agricultor, que optou por investir em diversas espécies frutíferas e na cafeicultura. Grande parte das frutas possui maior grau de risco que o café e, além disso, muitas dessas atividades são positivamente correlacionadas, o que reduz a eficiência da diversificação na minimização dos riscos do sistema. Com isso, pode-se afirmar que o objetivo principal da diversificação da pequena propriedade é a elevação da margem bruta do sistema, pois somente com a cafeicultura o produtor não obteria renda suficiente para permanecer na atividade. A grande contribuição dessa pesquisa é mostrar e divulgar a situação dos pequenos cafeicultores, a importância da diversificação para os mesmos e abrir espaço para a realização de outros estudos na região de Marília. É muito importante que futuras pesquisas levantem alternativas de cultivo para elevar a renda dos pequenos produtores da região, considerando estudos de mercado e identificação de canais de comercialização. Por outro lado, também seria interessante aprofundar o estudo da situação dos pequenos produtores inseridos em outros sistemas que não incluam a cafeicultura, para se ter uma visão mais abrangente dos problemas enfrentados e definir ações efetivas para o desenvolvimento regional. / Marília's region primary sector has passed for periodic crises because of coffee prices and cyclical production behavior. The coffee farmers' income is subject to sensible oscillations each year, suggesting a high level of economic risk. As part of the Passion Fruit Global Competitiveness Support Project in the region of Vera Cruz, SP - AFRUVEC/Bioex-CNPq, the objective of this thesis is to evaluate risk behavior of the Marília's region coffee farmers. Once the degree of farmers' aversion to risk is reflected in the choice of the farming plans, a methodology was initially developed to identify the coffee production systems in the region. This identification was based on focus groups analysis and the results validated through discriminant analysis. Thus, three production systems were identified: "single crop farm coffee", "coffee and cattle" and "small diversified farm". A typical farm for each system was selected for analysing farmers' behavior in the presence of risk. Linear programming technique was used for modeling production systems. MOTAD was used for generating the efficiency frontiers that reflect the trade-off between income and risk. The results indicate that the farmer of "coffee and cattle" system is more averse to risk than that of the "single crop farm". This was an expected behavior, because cattle gross margins are negatively correlated to the coffee ones, indicating that the combination of these activities is efficient in reducing risk. However, it was shown that the small diversified farmer is less averse to risk than the "single crop farm", as opposed to the initial hypotheses of the study. This behavior can be explained by the diversification strategy adopted by the farmer which has chosen to invest in a variety of fruit crops species and coffee. A great part of fruit crops have higher risk degree than the coffee crop, and many of these activities are positively correlated, what reduces the diversification efficiency in the quest of minimum system risk. So it can be stated that the main objective of the small farm diversification system is raising the gross margins, because the farmer would not earn enough income to remain in the activity by just cropping coffee. The major contribution of this research is to show and divulge the importance of the diversification for small coffee farmers. It is very important that future researches could provide farm alternatives to raise the income of small farmers of the region, considering market studies and identification of trading channels. On the other hand, it would also be interesting to deepen the analysis of the situation of small producers in other systems which not include coffee, to have a wider vision of the problems and to define effective actions to ensure the regional development.

Há mais de uma década o controle dos níveis de preço na economia brasileira é realizado dentro do escopo do Regime de Metas de Inflação, que utiliza modelos macroeconômicos como instrumentos para guiar as tomadas de decisões sobre política monetária. Após um período de relativo êxito (2006 - 2009), nos últimos anos apesar dos esforços das autoridades monetárias na aplicação das políticas de contenção da inflação, seguindo os mandamentos do regime de metas, esta tem se mostrado resistente, provocando um debate em torno de fatores que podem estar ocasionando tal comportamento. Na literatura internacional, alguns trabalhos têm creditado aos choques de oferta, especialmente aos desencadeados pela variação dos preços das commodities, uma participação significativa na inflação, principalmente em economias onde os produtos primários figuram como maioria na pauta exportadora. Na literatura nacional, já existem alguns trabalhos que apontam nesta mesma direção. Sendo assim, buscou-se, como objetivo principal para o presente estudo, avaliar como os choques de oferta, mais especificamente os choques originados pelos preços das commodities, têm impactado na inflação brasileira e como e com que eficiência a política monetária do país tem reagido. Para tanto, foi estimado um modelo semiestrutural contendo uma curva de Phillips, uma curva IS e duas versões da Função de Reação do Banco Central, de modo a verificar como as decisões de política monetária são tomadas. O método de estimação empregado foi o de Autorregressão Vetorial com Correção de Erro (VEC) na sua versão estrutural, que permite uma avaliação dinâmica das relações de interdependência entre as variáveis do modelo proposto. Por meio da estimação da curva de Phillips foi possível observar que os choques de oferta, tanto das commodities como da produtividade do trabalho e do câmbio, não impactam a inflação imediatamente, porém sua relevância é crescente ao longo do tempo chegando a prevalecer sobre o efeito autorregressivo (indexação) verificado. Estes choques também se apresentaram importantes para o comportamento da expectativa de inflação, produzindo assim, uma indicação de que seus impactos tendem a se espalhar pelos demais setores da economia. Através dos resultados da curva IS constatou-se a forte inter-relação entre o hiato do produto e a taxa de juros, o que indica que a política monetária, por meio da fixação de tal taxa, influencia fortemente a demanda agregada. Já por meio da estimação da primeira função de reação, foi possível perceber que há uma relação contemporânea relevante entre o desvio da expectativa de inflação em relação à meta e a taxa Selic, ao passo que a relação contemporânea do hiato do produto sobre a taxa Selic se mostrou pequena. Por fim, os resultados obtidos com a segunda função de reação, confirmaram que as autoridades monetárias reagem mais fortemente aos sinais inflacionários da economia do que às movimentações que acontecem na atividade econômica e mostraram que uma elevação nos preços das commodities, em si, não provoca diretamente um aumento na taxa básica de juros da economia. / For more than a decade the control of price levels in the Brazilian economy is conducted within the scope of the regime of inflation targets, which utilizes macroeconomic models as tools to guide decision-making on monetary policy. After a period of relative success (2006 - 2009), in recent years, despite the efforts of monetary authorities in the application of inflation containment policies, following the commandments of the targeting regime, this has proven resilient, causing a debate about factors that may be causing this behavior. In the international literature, some studies have credited to supply shocks, especially those triggered by the change in commodity prices, a significant participation in inflation, especially in economies where the commodities are a large part of export basket. In the Brazilian literature, there are already some studies pointing in the same direction. Therefore, it sought to the main objective of this study to evaluate how supply shocks, more specifically the shocks originated by commodity prices have impacted on Brazilian inflation and how and how efficiently monetary policy of the country has reacted. To this purpose, it estimated a semiestrutural model containing a Phillips curve, an IS curve and two versions of the central bank\'s reaction function, so check how monetary policy decisions are taken. The estimation method used was the Vector autoregression with Error Correction (VEC) in its structural version, which allows a dynamic assessment of interdependence between the variables of the model. By estimating the Phillips curve it was observed that the supply shocks, both commodity as labor productivity and the exchange rate, do not impact inflation immediately, but its relevance is growing over time getting to prevail over the effect autoregressive (index) checked. These shocks also performed important to the inflation expectations, a possible indication that supply shocks may spread over other economic sectors. Through the results of the IS curve noted the strong inter-relationship between the output gap and the interest rate, which indicates that monetary policy, by setting interest rates, strongly influences aggregate demand. Through the estimation of the A reaction function, it was revealed that there is a relevant contemporary relationship between the deviation of expected inflation from the target and the Selic rate, while the contemporary relationship of the output gap over the Selic was proved to be small. Finally, the results obtained with the B reaction function, confirmed that the monetary authorities react more strongly to inflationary signs of the economy than the movements that happen in economic activities and showed that a rise in commodity prices does not lead directly an increase in basic interest rate of the economy.

Este trabalho objetiva explorar, teórica e empiricamente, a relevância dos dividendos com o valor patrimonial na valorização do preço das ações listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Para tal, levantou-se a seguinte questão-problema: Que modelo têm um maior poder de explicação dos números contábeis, com base nas empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA: valor patrimonial e dividendo ou valor patrimonial e resultados reportados? Como referencial teórico foi utilizado os modelos desenvolvidos primeiramente por Ohlson (1995; 2003; 2005) e como forma alternativa os modelos desenvolvidos por Brief e Zarowin (1999) e de Pourheydari et al (2008) e como base de dados as empresas não financeiras com ações negociadas na BM&FBOVESPA do período de 1997 a 2007. A metodologia aplicada foi de análise de regressões simples e multivariadas, através da proposta de Brief e Zarowin (1999) e de Pourheydari et al (2008), análise da tendência do R2 e dos valores incrementais das variáveis usadas no cálculo. Concluiu-se que dividendos têm importante papel nos modelos de valorização de ações, com relevância informacional (R2) maior, mas, em alguns anos da amostra essa relevância foi menor. Tal fato, no Brasil, pode ser aparentemente devido à (i) contabilidade ser voltada para o atendimento ao fisco e o mercado de crédito; e (ii) à concentração acionária do mercado brasileiro; e ainda a predominância de um mercado acionário voltado ao curto prazo em contraponto se comparado a mercados mais maduros e com uma cultura de investimento voltado a longo prazo, como os Estados Unidos. / This work aims at to explore, theoretical and empirically, the relevance of the dividends and the patrimonial value in the valuation of stocks price listed in the Brazilian Stock Market called BM&FBOVESPA. For help this task raise up the following subjectproblem: What model has a higher link with the accounting numbers, with base in the listed companies in BM&FBOVESPA: Book Value and Dividends or Book Value and Reported Earnings? As theoretical referential was used the models developed firstly by Ohlson (1995; 2003; 2005) and as alternative form the models developed by Brief and Zarowin (1999) and Pourheydari et al (2008) and as data base the non-financial companies with actions negotiated in BM&FBOVESPA of the period of 1997 the 2007. The applied methodology was of analysis of regression - simple regressions and multivariate, through the proposal of Brief and Zarowin (1999) and of Pourheydari et al (2008), analysis of the tendency of R2 and the values of the variables used in the calculation. As conclusion it right to state that dividends have important rule in the models of valuation of assets, with higher informational relevance (R2), but, in some years of the sample that relevance was smaller. Such fact, in Brazil, it can be seemingly due to the following (i) accounting drives to the tax authorities and the credit market; and (ii) higher concentration in the stock market in the Brazil; and still the predominance of a stock market returned to the short-time in counterpoint of long-term investment if compared to more development markets such as the American.

Fung Wing Tsan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-133). / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgment --- p.iii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- THE PRICING OF STOCK INDEX FUTURES --- p.9 / Chapter I. --- The Theoretical Framework --- p.9 / Chapter II. --- Evidence from the US Markets --- p.17 / Chapter III. --- Evidence from Other Markets --- p.21 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- THE PRICE DISCOVERY ROLE OF FUTURES MARKET --- p.24 / Chapter I. --- The Potential of Lead/Lag Relationship between the Stock Index Futures Price and the Stock Index --- p.24 / Chapter II. --- Empirical Evidence for the Lead/Lag Relationship --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- THE HEDGING FUNCTION OF STOCK INDEX FUTURES MARKET --- p.30 / Chapter I. --- The Traditional Approach --- p.31 / Chapter II. --- Working's Speculative Hedge Approach --- p.32 / Chapter III. --- The Risk-Minimizing Approach --- p.33 / Chapter IV. --- The Portfolio Allocation Approach --- p.40 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HANG SENG INDEX FUTURES MARKET --- p.44 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- PRICING EFFICIENCY OF THE HANG SENG INDEX FUTURES MARKET --- p.51 / Chapter I. --- Pricing Efficiency of the Hang Seng Index Futures Market with no Transaction Costs --- p.51 / Chapter II. --- Pricing Efficiency of the Hang Seng Index Futures Market with Transaction Costs --- p.59 / Chapter III. --- The Pattern of the Mispricing Series --- p.66 / Chapter IV. --- Test of Pricing Efficiency using Intraday Prices --- p.70 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- PRICE DISCOVERY ROLE OF THE HANG SENG INDEX FUTURES MARKET --- p.85 / Chapter I. --- The Granger-Causality Test --- p.86 / Chapter II. --- Error-Correction Model and Long-Run Relationship between the Stock Price and the Hang Seng Index Futures Price --- p.93 / Chapter III. --- The Simultaneous-Equation Error-Correction Model --- p.96 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- HEDGING EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HANG SENG INDEX FUTURES MARKET --- p.104 / Chapter I. --- The Effectiveness of Hang Seng Index Futures in Reducing Risks Of Stock Portfolios --- p.104 / Chapter II. --- The Hedged Portfolio as an Alternative to Fixed-Income Asset --- p.115 / Chapter III. --- The Effectiveness of Hang Seng Index Futures in Improving Risk´ؤReturn 'Trade-Off --- p.119 / Chapter Chapter 9 --- conclusion --- p.126 / References --- p.130

Wu Haijun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1. --- The Fisher Hypothesis --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2. --- International Fisher Equation --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Theoretical Basis on The Link Between Stock Return Differential and Inflation Rate Differential --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Data Description --- p.19 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Results --- p.23 / Chapter 5.1. --- Does The Generalized Fisher Hypothesis Hold In The Long Horizons --- p.24 / Chapter 5.2. --- Does International Fisher Equation Hold --- p.29 / Chapter 5.3. --- Can International Elements Account For The Failure of Fisher Hypothesis --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.43 / Bibliography --- p.45 / Appendix A --- p.49 / Chapter A.1. --- The link between interest rate differential and inflation rate differential --- p.49 / Chapter A.2. --- Instrumental Variable Estimation --- p.53 / Appendix B --- p.59 / Chapter B.1. --- Hong Kong CPI(A) Source --- p.59 / Chapter B.2. --- Taiwan CPI Source --- p.61 / LIST OF TABLES / Table 4.1: Data Description --- p.21 / Table 4.2: Means and Standard Deviations of Inflation and Stock Returns --- p.22 / Table 5.1: Short-term (One Year) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.26 / Table 5.2: Long-term (Five Years) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.27 / Table 5.3: Long-term (Ten Years) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.30 / Table 5.4: Short-term (One Year) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.33 / Table 5.5: Long-term (Five Years) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.34 / Table 5.6: Long-term (Ten Years) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.35 / Table 5.7: Testing Effects of International Elements on The Fisher Hypothesis --- p.39 / Table 5.8: Regression Results For The Coefficients of Domestic Inflation With and Without International Elements --- p.40

Liu Guoxin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 24-25). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.2 / Chapter 2 --- The Model --- p.4 / Chapter 3 --- "Estimation of μ1 ,μ2 ,α and β" --- p.7 / Chapter 4 --- Extension --- p.9 / Chapter 5 --- Monte Carlo Simulation --- p.11 / Chapter 5.1 --- "Case 1. a < 1, β < 1" --- p.12 / Chapter 5.2 --- "Case 2. a > 1, β < 1" --- p.12 / Chapter 5.3 --- "Case 3. a < 1,β > 1" --- p.13 / Chapter 5.4 --- "Case 4. a > 1, β> 1" --- p.13 / Chapter 6 --- Empirical Application --- p.15 / Chapter 6.1 --- Model Construction --- p.15 / Chapter 6.2 --- Estimation Results --- p.15 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- 1973Oil Crisis --- p.16 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- 1981 Oil Crisis --- p.18 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- 1991 Oil Crisis --- p.20 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.23 / Chapter 8 --- Bibliography --- p.24

This article investigates the influence of competition on price and product quality among Austrian camping sites, a market characterized by both horizontal (spatial) and vertical product differentiation. Theoretically, the effect of competition on quality is ambiguous and depends on the degree of cost substitutability between output and quality. Estimating a system of equations shows that intense competition has a positive impact on product quality and a negative effect on prices (conditional on quality). As high quality is associated with high prices, the total effect of competition on prices is rather small.