A guaranteed minimum income benefit (GMIB) is a long-dated option that can be embedded in a deferred variable annuity. The GMIB is attractive because, for policyholders who plan to annuitize, it offers protection against poor market performance during the accumulation phase, and adverse interest rate experience at annuitization. The GMIB also provides an upside equity guarantee that resembles the benefit provided by a lookback option. We price the GMIB, and determine the fair fee rate that should be charged. Due to the long dated nature of the option, conventional hedging methods, such as delta hedging, will only be partially successful. Therefore, we are motivated to find alternative hedging methods which are practicable for long-dated options. First, we measure the effectiveness of static hedging strategies for the GMIB. Static hedging portfolios are constructed based on minimizing the Conditional Tail Expectation of the hedging loss distribution, or minimizing the mean squared hedging loss. Next, we measure the performance of semi-static hedging strategies for the GMIB. We present a practical method for testing semi-static strategies applied to long term options, which employs nested Monte Carlo simulations and standard optimization methods. The semi-static strategies involve periodically rebalancing the hedging portfolio at certain time intervals during the accumulation phase, such that, at the option maturity date, the hedging portfolio payoff is equal to or exceeds the option value, subject to an acceptable level of risk. While we focus on the GMIB as a case study, the methods we utilize are extendable to other types of long-dated options with similar features.

The theme of this thesis relates to solving the optimal portfolio selection problems using linear programming. There are two key contributions in this thesis. The first contribution is to generalize the well-known linear optimization framework of Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR)-based portfolio selection problems (see Rockafellar and Uryasev (2000, 2002)) to more general risk measure portfolio selection problems. In particular, the class of risk measure under consideration is called the Coherent Distortion Risk Measure (CDRM) and is the intersection of two well-known classes of risk measures in the literature: the Coherent Risk Measure (CRM) and the Distortion Risk Measure (DRM). In addition to CVaR, other risk measures which belong to CDRM include the Wang Transform (WT) measure, Proportional Hazard (PH) transform measure, and lookback (LB) distortion measure. Our generalization implies that the portfolio selection problems can be solved very efficiently using the linear programming approach and over a much wider class of risk measures. The second contribution of the thesis is to establish the equivalences among four formulations of CDRM optimization problems: the return maximization subject to CDRM constraint, the CDRM minimization subject to return constraint, the return-CDRM utility maximization, the CDRM-based Sharpe Ratio maximization. Equivalences among these four formulations are established in a sense that they produce the same efficient frontier when varying the parameters in their corresponding problems. We point out that the first three formulations have already been investigated in Krokhmal et al. (2002) with milder assumptions on risk measures (convex functional of portfolio weights). Here we apply their results to CDRM and establish the fourth equivalence. For every one of these formulations, the relationship between its given parameter and the implied parameters for the other three formulations is explored. Such equivalences and relationships can help verifying consistencies (or inconsistencies) for risk management with different objectives and constraints. They are also helpful for uncovering the implied information of a decision making process or of a given investment market. We conclude the thesis by conducting two case studies to illustrate the methodologies and implementations of our linear optimization approach, to verify the equivalences among four different problem formulations, and to investigate the properties of different members of CDRM. In addition, the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the so-called 1/n portfolio strategy in terms of the trade off between portfolio return and portfolio CDRM. The properties of optimal portfolios and their returns with respect to different CDRM minimization problems are compared through their numerical results.

In insurance risk theory, the surplus of an insurance company is modelled to monitor and quantify its risks. With the outgo of claims and inflow of premiums, the insurer needs to determine what financial portfolio ensures the soundness of the company’s future while satisfying the shareholders’ interests. It is usually assumed that the net profit condition (i.e. the expectation of the process is positive) is satisfied, which then implies that this process would drift towards infinity. To correct this unrealistic behaviour, the surplus process was modified to include the payout of dividends until the time of ruin. Under this more realistic surplus process, a topic of growing interest is determining which dividend strategy is optimal, where optimality is in the sense of maximizing the expected present value of dividend payments. This problem dates back to the work of Bruno De Finetti (1957) where it was shown that if the surplus process is modelled as a random walk with ± 1 step sizes, the optimal dividend payment strategy is a barrier strategy. Such a strategy pays as dividends any excess of the surplus above some threshold. Since then, other examples where a barrier strategy is optimal include the Brownian motion model (Gerber and Shiu (2004)) and the compound Poisson process model with exponential claims (Gerber and Shiu (2006)). In this thesis, we focus on the optimality of a barrier strategy in the more general Lévy risk models. The risk process will be formulated as a spectrally negative Lévy process, a continuous-time stochastic process with stationary increments which provides an extension of the classical Cramér-Lundberg model. This includes the Brownian and the compound Poisson risk processes as special cases. In this setting, results are expressed in terms of “scale functions”, a family of functions known only through their Laplace transform. In Loeffen (2008), we can find a sufficient condition on the jump distribution of the process for a barrier strategy to be optimal. This condition was then improved upon by Loeffen and Renaud (2010) while considering a more general control problem. The first chapter provides a brief review of theory of spectrally negative Lévy processes and scale functions. In chapter 2, we define the optimal dividends problem and provide existing results in the literature. When the surplus process is given by the Cramér-Lundberg process with a Brownian motion component, we provide a sufficient condition on the parameters of this process for the optimality of a dividend barrier strategy. Chapter 3 focuses on the case when the claims distribution is given by a univariate mixture of Erlang distributions with a common scale parameter. Analytical results for the Value-at-Risk and Tail-Value-at-Risk, and the Euler risk contribution to the Conditional Tail Expectation are provided. Additionally, we give some results for the scale function and the optimal dividends problem. In the final chapter, we propose an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm similar to that in Lee and Lin (2009) for fitting the univariate distribution to data. This algorithm is implemented and numerical results on the goodness of fit to sample data and on the optimal dividends problem are presented.

El análisis de la solvencia en las carteras de seguros no vida es un tema que ha sido muy tratado en la literatura actuarial generando una amplia bibliografía. Las hipótesis y los riesgos analizados han ido ampliándose, incluyéndose, ya no sólo el riesgo básico que viene representado por las fluctuaciones de la siniestralidad, sino otros muchos factores como la rentabilidad de las reservas, la inflación, los ciclos económicos, el reparto de dividendos, etc... El entorno en el que se desarrolla la tesis es el enfoque que ofrece la teoría del riesgo, que se centra básicamente en la modelización de la cuantía total de los siniestros de una cartera de riesgo.Dentro de la teoría del riesgo se encuentran trabajos que plantean la introducción de políticas de dividendos en los modelos básicos que formalizan el comportamiento de las reservas en carteras de seguros no vida. La idea consiste en que la parte de las reservas consideradas excedentes se repartan en forma de dividendos. Formalmente, su introducción en el modelo, se realiza mediante la definición de barreras de dividendos que determinan las cuantías de reservas que como máximo la compañía de seguros ha decidido mantener.El estudio de los efectos de la modificación del modelo mediante la introducción de estrategias de reparto de dividendos se convierte en el punto de partida de la tesis. Así, los objetivos generales de la tesis se pueden agrupar básicamente en dos:· Analizar los efectos de la introducción de barreras de dividendos en la probabilidad de ruina.· Cuantificar los dividendos repartidos.Respecto al primer objetivo indicado, es evidente que la introducción de políticas de dividendos provoca una menor acumulación de reservas, y por tanto una mayor probabilidad de que las reservas sean insuficientes para cubrir la siniestralidad. Analizar cómo se verá afectada la solvencia de las carteras en función de la política de dividendos elegida será pues uno de los puntos a tratar a lo largo del trabajo.En lo relativo a la cuantificación de los dividendos repartidos, se puede considerar el papel de los dividendos como incentivo a los accionistas que han aportado el capital inicial, dividendos que pueden ser considerados, bien como rendimientos, bien como amortización a su inversión inicial. Se debería valorar, por tanto, si un mayor reparto de dividendos compensa el mayor riesgo de insolvencia, situación que puede interpretarse como una más rápida amortización de las aportaciones iniciales.De ahí surge la necesidad de cuantificar los dividendos repartidos, de analizar su influencia sobre la solvencia de la cartera y de determinar la política de dividendos considerada óptima desde el punto de vista de criterios económico-actuariales.La elección de la magnitud elegida para valorar los dividendos repartidos es un aspecto básico. Así, veremos a lo largo del trabajo como en la literatura actuarial se trabaja con la esperanza del valor actual de los dividendos repartidos, asumiendo que el proceso acaba en el momento de ruina o bien permitiéndose valores negativos de las reservas, y por tanto la recuperación del proceso.Una vez planteados los objetivos, surgió la necesidad de formalizar el modelo modificado con el reparto de dividendos. Así, en el Capítulo 2, se especifican las hipótesis a partir de las cuales se determina el reparto: se puede considerar que se repartirán dividendos siempre que el nivel de las reservas alcance el nivel de la barrera de dividendos (reparto continuo), o bien que el reparto sólo se producirá en momentos determinados del tiempo, suponiendo que las reservas sean mayores que la cuantía predeterminada por la barrera de dividendos (reparto discreto). Se recogen también los dos tipos de barreras definidas en la literatura actuarial: por un lado, las barreras reflectantes, que mantienen el nivel de las reservas en la barrera hasta la ocurrencia del siguiente siniestro, y por otro, las barreras absorbentes, definidas de tal forma que siempre que las reservas alcancen la barrera, se da por acabado el proceso.Una vez definidas las hipótesis de reparto y su formalización, otro de los temas interesantes fue el de analizar las barreras que aparecían definidas en la literatura actuarial para controlar el crecimiento ilimitado de las reservas. Así, encontramos trabajos sobre la barrera constante y la barrera lineal creciente.Nos centramos primero en el estudio de la barrera constante, realizado en los Capítulos 3 y 6. En el capítulo 3 se analiza suponiendo reparto continuo, y en el capítulo 6 se asume reparto discreto. Independientemente del reparto asumido, la característica básica es que, en el análisis en tiempo infinito, se producen valores de la probabilidad de ruina igual a uno. Se recoge la demostración asumiendo reparto continuo, y se presenta la demostración de que en el reparto discreto la ruina también es segura.En el análisis de la barrera constante, al ser la ruina cierta, centramos el estudio en la cuantificación de los dividendos repartidos. En la primera parte del capítulo 3 se presentan nuevas medidas que permiten aportar datos sobre la cuantía y el momento en que se empiezan a repartir dividendos, suponiendo que éstos sean positivos, mientras que en la segunda parte se realiza un estudio en el que se determina un óptimo económico del nivel de la barrera y el nivel inicial de las reservas. La idea que nos llevó a plantear este problema es que se puede considerar el nivel inicial de las reservas como una aportación de los accionistas. La comparación de esta cuantía con los dividendos que recibirán a cambio permite hallar combinaciones óptimas y obtener datos para analizar la rentabilidad obtenida por los accionistas.En el capítulo 6, en el que se analiza la barrera constante con reparto discreto, y tras buscar la bibliografía existente, hallamos que el cálculo de los dividendos repartidos se realizaba para unas distribuciones del coste total concretas. Así, nos planteamos un método de resolución válido para cualquier distribución discreta de la siniestralidad agregada. Optamos por el planteamiento de un sistema de ecuaciones lineal y su correspondiente generalización en la forma matricial que nos permitiese hallar la esperanza del valor actual de los dividendos, independientemente de la distribución del coste agregado.La otra barrera planteada hasta ahora, es la barrera lineal tratada en el Capítulo 4. Aquí la ruina ya no es segura, por lo que debemos plantearnos el cálculo de la probabilidad de ruina, tema tratado en la primera parte del capítulo.La segunda parte está dedicada a la valoración de las cuantías repartidas en forma de dividendos. De especial importancia en este capítulo es el uso de un planteamiento alternativo para el cálculo de la probabilidad de ruina y de los dividendos repartidos (Grandell (1991)), que nos permite la demostración analítica de las condiciones de contorno necesarias para la resolución de las ecuaciones en derivadas parciales obtenidas.En el capítulo 5 presentamos una nueva barrera de dividendos a la que denominamos barrera parabólica. La idea de introducir una nueva estrategia de reparto de dividendos surgió cuando, mediante simulación, pudimos comprobar que existen barreras alternativas equivalentes desde el punto de vista de la solvencia, pero que producen un reparto de dividendos diferente. Analizamos en este capítulo la probabilidad de ruina y los dividendos repartidos, incluyéndose comparaciones con la barrera lineal.En el capítulo 7 se presentan las conclusiones de la Tesis. En el capítulo 8 se incluyen los programas informáticos en Fortran y APL2 necesarios para el desarrollo de algunos apartados de la Tesis.

Este trabalho propõe um modelo para a simulação do passivo atuarial de um fundo de pensão brasileiro. As principais fontes de incertezas que influenciam a avaliação do passivo atuarial foram especificadas como variáveis aleatórias e parâmetros do modelo. Diversos cenários são gerados utilizando a técnica de simulação de Monte Carlo e a microssimulação no intuito de determinar o status de cada participante do fundo de pensão modelo para períodos futuros em diferentes nós de uma árvore de cenários. A situação de vida de cada participante, simulada individualmente a cada nó, está condicionada ao seu estado no nó imediatamente antecessor. O resultado é um modelo flexível, que permite a configuração de parâmetros a níveis individuais e possibilita trabalhar com diversas tábuas biométricas, mostrando-se capaz de gerar cenários consistentes, realistas e variados, capturando a essência da incerteza inerente às entidades de previdência complementar e produzindo não só valores únicos e determinísticos de reservas matemáticas e fluxos de caixa atuariais, mas intervalos de valores possíveis com distribuições conhecidas, importantes para a gestão eficiente de um fundo de pensão. A metodologia proposta serve como alternativa ao cálculo atuarial tradicional, que utiliza diretamente as probabilidades das tábuas biométricas, fixas por idade e sexo, para a mensuração dos fluxos de caixa previdenciários e reservas matemáticas. Os dados gerados a partir das simulações servem como dados de entrada para um modelo estocástico completo de Asset-Liability Management (ALM). / This study proposes a model to simulate actuarial liabilities from a pension fund in Brazil. The main uncertainties that affect the liabilities have been specified as random variables and parameters of the developed model. Many scenarios are generated using Monte Carlo simulation and micro-simulation techniques in order to determine the status of each member of the pension fund for future periods in different nodes of a scenario tree. The future of each participant, simulated individually at each node, is conditioned to its status in the immediately predecessor node. The result is a flexible model which allows the parameters configuration at individual levels and that can work with several actuarial tables, showing to be itself able to generate consistent, realistic and sorted scenarios, capturing the uncertainty inherent in pension funds environment and producing not only single and deterministic values for actuarial liabilities and cash flows, but ranges of possible values with known distributions, becoming an important tool for the efficient management of the pension fund. The methodology applied is an alternative to the classic actuarial techniques, that use directly the probabilities from actuarial tables, fixed by age and gender, to calculate the liabilities and the cash flow of the pension fund. The data generated by this model were thought to be inputs for a full multistage stochastic Asset-Liability Management (ALM) model.

Este trabalho propõe um modelo para a simulação do passivo atuarial de um fundo de pensão brasileiro. As principais fontes de incertezas que influenciam a avaliação do passivo atuarial foram especificadas como variáveis aleatórias e parâmetros do modelo. Diversos cenários são gerados utilizando a técnica de simulação de Monte Carlo e a microssimulação no intuito de determinar o status de cada participante do fundo de pensão modelo para períodos futuros em diferentes nós de uma árvore de cenários. A situação de vida de cada participante, simulada individualmente a cada nó, está condicionada ao seu estado no nó imediatamente antecessor. O resultado é um modelo flexível, que permite a configuração de parâmetros a níveis individuais e possibilita trabalhar com diversas tábuas biométricas, mostrando-se capaz de gerar cenários consistentes, realistas e variados, capturando a essência da incerteza inerente às entidades de previdência complementar e produzindo não só valores únicos e determinísticos de reservas matemáticas e fluxos de caixa atuariais, mas intervalos de valores possíveis com distribuições conhecidas, importantes para a gestão eficiente de um fundo de pensão. A metodologia proposta serve como alternativa ao cálculo atuarial tradicional, que utiliza diretamente as probabilidades das tábuas biométricas, fixas por idade e sexo, para a mensuração dos fluxos de caixa previdenciários e reservas matemáticas. Os dados gerados a partir das simulações servem como dados de entrada para um modelo estocástico completo de Asset-Liability Management (ALM). / This study proposes a model to simulate actuarial liabilities from a pension fund in Brazil. The main uncertainties that affect the liabilities have been specified as random variables and parameters of the developed model. Many scenarios are generated using Monte Carlo simulation and micro-simulation techniques in order to determine the status of each member of the pension fund for future periods in different nodes of a scenario tree. The future of each participant, simulated individually at each node, is conditioned to its status in the immediately predecessor node. The result is a flexible model which allows the parameters configuration at individual levels and that can work with several actuarial tables, showing to be itself able to generate consistent, realistic and sorted scenarios, capturing the uncertainty inherent in pension funds environment and producing not only single and deterministic values for actuarial liabilities and cash flows, but ranges of possible values with known distributions, becoming an important tool for the efficient management of the pension fund. The methodology applied is an alternative to the classic actuarial techniques, that use directly the probabilities from actuarial tables, fixed by age and gender, to calculate the liabilities and the cash flow of the pension fund. The data generated by this model were thought to be inputs for a full multistage stochastic Asset-Liability Management (ALM) model.

The aim of this work is the analysis of factors, which influence price of insurance companies' stock. This work firstly contents definition of basic differences in the space, which insurance company does business in and regular manufacturing plant or sales company. Emphasis is put on controlling risks and regulation of insurance companies. The main part of work is fundamental analysis of 3 european insurance companies. The analysis of each macroeconomics quantity and the stock rate uses correlative coefficients. This work researchs, whether in case of relationship of progress of stock rates and quantities of economics holds regular conclusion, which are described in literature of economics or whether not. Whole fundamental analysis further complete sectoral analysis with development of main characteristics of european insurance market and companies' analysis, where are different proportion indicatiors compared.

This thesis deals with actuarial methods that are used for life insurance and reinsurance, for traditional insurance products (whole life, term insurance, pure endowment, endowment, whole life annuity, temporary annuity). The main goal of this thesis is to outline the actuarial methods used for life insurance premium and reinsurance premium. The work is focused on the comparison of the unisex rates, gender specific rates and legislation changes for both sides, insurance company and policyholder. The model examples for each combination of insurance type and gender specific rates (male, female and unisex) are presented.In the last part of the thesis, the time series of the written premium for the Czech Republic market are analyzed for years from 2006 to 2013. The regression model is used to predict the development in next two years.

Este trabalho propõe um modelo para a simulação do passivo atuarial de um fundo de pensão brasileiro. As principais fontes de incertezas que influenciam a avaliação do passivo atuarial foram especificadas como variáveis aleatórias e parâmetros do modelo. Diversos cenários são gerados utilizando a técnica de simulação de Monte Carlo e a microssimulação no intuito de determinar o status de cada participante do fundo de pensão modelo para períodos futuros em diferentes nós de uma árvore de cenários. A situação de vida de cada participante, simulada individualmente a cada nó, está condicionada ao seu estado no nó imediatamente antecessor. O resultado é um modelo flexível, que permite a configuração de parâmetros a níveis individuais e possibilita trabalhar com diversas tábuas biométricas, mostrando-se capaz de gerar cenários consistentes, realistas e variados, capturando a essência da incerteza inerente às entidades de previdência complementar e produzindo não só valores únicos e determinísticos de reservas matemáticas e fluxos de caixa atuariais, mas intervalos de valores possíveis com distribuições conhecidas, importantes para a gestão eficiente de um fundo de pensão. A metodologia proposta serve como alternativa ao cálculo atuarial tradicional, que utiliza diretamente as probabilidades das tábuas biométricas, fixas por idade e sexo, para a mensuração dos fluxos de caixa previdenciários e reservas matemáticas. Os dados gerados a partir das simulações servem como dados de entrada para um modelo estocástico completo de Asset-Liability Management (ALM). / This study proposes a model to simulate actuarial liabilities from a pension fund in Brazil. The main uncertainties that affect the liabilities have been specified as random variables and parameters of the developed model. Many scenarios are generated using Monte Carlo simulation and micro-simulation techniques in order to determine the status of each member of the pension fund for future periods in different nodes of a scenario tree. The future of each participant, simulated individually at each node, is conditioned to its status in the immediately predecessor node. The result is a flexible model which allows the parameters configuration at individual levels and that can work with several actuarial tables, showing to be itself able to generate consistent, realistic and sorted scenarios, capturing the uncertainty inherent in pension funds environment and producing not only single and deterministic values for actuarial liabilities and cash flows, but ranges of possible values with known distributions, becoming an important tool for the efficient management of the pension fund. The methodology applied is an alternative to the classic actuarial techniques, that use directly the probabilities from actuarial tables, fixed by age and gender, to calculate the liabilities and the cash flow of the pension fund. The data generated by this model were thought to be inputs for a full multistage stochastic Asset-Liability Management (ALM) model.

Cette thèse porte sur la modélisation de la dynamique des populations et de ses applications, à la démographie et l’actuariat d’une part, et à l’étude des processus de Hawkes d’autre part. Ces travaux de thèse proposent d’explorer à travers différents points de vue comment se déforme la structure d’une population, tant concernant la répartition des âges que sa composition en terme de caractéristiques. À travers cinq chapitres, nous déclinons une même philosophie qui, pour comprendre comment évoluent des quantités agrégées, propose d’étudier la dynamique de la population à une échelle plus fine, celle de l’individu. Après un premier chapitre introductif en langue française, détaillant les motivations et les principales contributions, nous proposons d’abord dans le Chapitre 2 la description du cadre général de la modélisation dynamique aléatoire de populations structurées en caractéristiques et en âges, sur la base de Bensusan et al. (2010–2015), ainsi que plusieurs exemples motivés par les applications démographiques et actuarielles. Nous détaillons la construction mathématique de tels processus ainsi que le lien avec les équations déterministes classiques en démographie. Nous discutons également l’impact de l’hétérogénéité sur l’exemple d’un effet cohorte, ainsi que le rôle de l’environnement aléatoire. Les deux chapitres suivants mettent en avant l’importance de la pyramide des âges. Le modèle de population général issu du Chapitre 2 est décliné dans le Chapitre 3 pour étudier des processus de Hawkes avec immigrants généraux, pour lesquels nous exploitons le concept de pyramide des âges. Dans cette étude théorique, basée sur Boumezoued (2015b), nous établissons de nouveaux résultats sur leur distribution pour une classe de fonctions qui généralisent le cas exponentiel étudié jusqu’ici. Dans le Chapitre 4, qui reprend Arnold et al. (2015), nous analysons l’impact de changements dans la mortalité par causes de décès sur la dynamique de la pyramide des âges, et en particulier sur le ratio de dépendance qui est un indicateur crucial du vieillissement de la population. En incluant le jeu des naissances dans la dynamique, ce travail de simulations, basé sur les données de l’OMS, permet de compléter la littérature existante sur les causes de décès qui se focalise traditionnellement sur des indicateurs de mortalité. Les deux derniers chapitres étudient plus particulièrement l’hétérogénéité des populations. Le Chapitre 5, basé sur Boumezoued et al. (2015), propose de mesurer l’hétérogénéité de la mortalité dans les données de l’Échantillon Démographique Permanent de l’INSEE. Dans le cadre de cette contribution d’adaptation de méthodes statistiques et de sa mise en oeuvre sur données réelles, nous proposons une méthode d’estimation paramétrique par maximum de vraisemblance pour les modèles multi-états qui prend en compte à la fois la censure par intervalle, caractéristique des données longitudinales issues du recensement, et également le retour dans les états intermédiaires. Enfin, le Chapitre 6, tiré de Boumezoued (2015a), reprend le modèle général du Chapitre 2 dans lequel les individus peuvent donner naissance, changer de caractéristiques et décéder. La contribution de cette partie théorique est d’étudier le comportement de la population lorsque les caractéristiques individuelles changent fréquemment. Nous établissons un thèorème limite en grande population pour le processus de pyramide des âges, dont le comportement est alors décrit par des taux de naissance et mort agrégés sur la structure stable en terme de caractéristiques. / This thesis focuses on population dynamics models and their applications, on one hand to demography and actuarial science, and on the other hand to Hawkes processes. This work explores through several viewpoints how population structures evolve over time, both in terms of ages and characteristics. In five chapters, we develop a common philosophy which studies the population at the scale of the individual in order to better understand the behavior of aggregate quantities. The first chapter introduces the motivations and details the main contributions in French. In Chapter 2, based on Bensusan et al. (2010–2015), we survey the modeling of characteristic and age-structured populations and their dynamics, as well as several examples motivated by demographic issues. We detail the mathematical construction of such population processes, as well as their link with well known deterministic equations in demography. We illustrate the simulation algorithm on an example of cohort effect, and we also discuss the role of the random environment. The two following chapters emphasize on the importance of the age pyramid. Chapter 3 uses a particular form of the general model introduced in Chapter 2 in order to study Hawkes processes with general immigrants. In this theoretical part based on Boumezoued (2015b) we use the concept of age pyramid to derive new distribution properties for a class of fertility functions which generalize the popular exponential case. Chapter 4 is based on Arnold et al. (2015) and analyses the impact of cause-of- death mortality changes on the population age pyramid, and in particular on the dependency ratio which is crucial to measure population ageing. By including birth patterns, this numerical work based on WHO data gives additional insights compared to the existing literature on causes of death focusing only on mortality indicators. The last two chapters focus on population heterogeneity. The aim of Chapter 5, based on Boumezoued et al. (2015), is to measure mortality heterogeneity on French longitudinal data called Échantillon Démographique Permanent. In this work, inspired by recent advances in the statistical literature, we develop a parametric maximum likelihood method for multi-state models which takes into account both interval censoring and reversible transitions. Finally, Chapter 6, based on Boumezoued (2015a), considers the general model introduced in Chapter 2 in which individuals can give birth, change their characteristics and die. The contribution of this theoretical work is the analysis of the population behavior when individual characteristics change very often. We establish a large population limit theorem for the age pyramid process, whose dynamics is described at the limit by birth and death rates which are averaged over the stable population composition.