連續時間計量方法在國外已廣泛被使用於經濟理論的實證上，而國內相關的研究猶付之如闕。本文首先簡述連續時聞計量方法的緣起及其優點；接著介紹其研究方法；最後以此法對耐久財需求、非自願儲蓄及匯率的決定三個主題進行研究。 　　本文第四章透過消費者耐久財的需求發現，以RMSE為準則時，連續模型所賦予的結構訊息是否優於離散模型，須視經濟現象本身的性質而定。 　　有關第五章台灣地區非自願儲蓄之研究，其結論可歸納為：即使考慮不同預期行為，Deaton (1977) 所宣稱的非自願儲蓄效果仍不顯著。但隨著產品行銷管道日漸流通等因素，此一效果亦值得有關當局注意。 　　第六章中筆者修改Frankel & Rodrignez (1982) 之模型，並利用逼近法進行估計。在完全預期的假設下，可以發現模型配適的匯率波動幅度遠大於實際匯率走向。而考慮政府干預後，模型配適情況良好。最後，就樣本後預測準則而言，本章所考慮之模型皆優於VARX(1,2)。

We prove that every (nice) Feller process is an It^o process in the sense of Cinlar, Jacod, Protter and Sharpe (1980). Next we generalize the notion of the symbol and define it for this larger class of processes. As examples the solutions of stochastic differential equations are considered. The symbol is then used to derive a quick approach to the semimartingale characteristics as well as the generator of the process under consideration. Finally we give some examples of how our methods work for processes used in mathematical finance. / Wir haben gezeigt, dass jeder (nette) Feller Prozess ein It^o Prozess im Sinne von Cinlar, Jacod, Protter und Sharpe (1980) ist. Es stellt sich heraus, dass man den Begriff des Symbols, der für Feller Prozesse bekannt ist, auf diese größere Klasse verallgemeinern kann. Dieses Symbol haben wir für die Lösungen verschiedener stochastischer Differentialgleichungen berechnet. Außerdem haben wir gezeigt, dass das Symbol einen schnellen Zugang zur Berechnung der Semimartingal-Charakteristiken und des Erzeugers eines It^o Prozesses liefert. Zuletzt wurden die Ergebnisse auf Prozesse angewendet, die in der Finanzmathematik gebräuchlich sind. - (Die Dissertation ist veröffentlicht im Shaker Verlag GmbH, Postfach 101818, 52018 Aachen, Deutschland, http://www.shaker.de, ISBN: 978-3-8322-8244-8)

La thèse est composée de deux parties.Dans la première partie, nous allons étudier le flot quasi-invariant défini par une équation différentielle stochastique de Stratanovich avec le dérive ayant seulement la BV-régularitésur un espace euclidien, en généralisant des résultats de L. Ambrosio sur l'existence,unicité et stabilité des flots lagrangiens associés aux équations différentielles ordinaires[Invent. Math. 158 (2004), 227{260]. Comme une application d'un résultat de stabilité,nous allons construire une solution explicite à l'equation de transport stochastique enterme de flot stochastique. La différentiabilité approximative du flot sera aussi investie,lorsque le dérive possµede une régularité de Sobolev.Dans la deuxième partie, nous allons généraliser la théorie de DiPerna-Lions aux cas desvariétés riemanniennes complètes. Nous allons utiliser le semi-groupe de la chaleur pourrégulariser des fonctions et des champs de vecteur. L'estimation sur le commutateur seraobtenue par la méthode probabiliste. Une application de cette estimation est de prouverl'unicité des solutions à l'équation de transport à l'aide du concept des solutions renormal-isables. L'équation différentielle ordinaire associée à un champ de vecteur de régularité deSobolev sera enfin résolue en adoptant une méhode due à L. Ambrosio. La fin de cett par-tie consacre à la construction des processus de diffusion, par la méthode de la variation deconstante, sur une variété riemannienne complète, ayant comme générateur, un opérateurelliptique contenant le dérive non-régulier. Pour cela, nous allons donner des conditionssur la courbure pour que le flot horizontal canonique soit un flot de difféomorphismes / The thesis mainly consists of two parts.In the first part, we study the quasi-invariant flow generated by the Stratonovich stochas-tic differential equation with BV drift coefficients in the Euclidean space. We generalizethe results of Ambrosio [Invent. Math. 158 (2004), 227{260] on the existence, uniquenessand stability of regular Lagrangian flows of ordinary differential equations to Stratonovichstochastic differential equations with BV drift coefficients. As an application of the sta-bility result, we construct an explicit solution to the corresponding stochastic transportequation in terms of the stochastic flow. The approximate differentiability of the flow isalso studied when the drift coefficient has some Sobolev regularity.In the second part, we generalize the DiPerna-Lions theory in the Euclidean space to thecomplete Riemannian manifold. We define the commutator on the complete Riemannianmanifold which is a probabilistic version of the one in the DiPerna-Lions theory, andestablish the commutator estimate by the probabilistic method. As a direct applicationof the commutator estimate, we investigate the uniqueness of solutions to the transportequation by the method of the renormalized solution. Following Ambrosio's method, weconstruct the DiPerna-Lions flow on the Riemannian manifold. In order to construct thediffusion process associated to an elliptic operator with irregular drift on the completeRiemannian manifold, we give some conditions which guarantee the strong completenessof the horizontal flow. Finally, we construct the diffusion process with the drift coefficienthaving only Sobolev regularity.Besides, we present a brief introduction of the classical theory on the ordinary differentialequation in the smooth case and the quasi-invariant flow of homeomorphisms under theOsgood condition before the first part; and we recall some basic tools and results whichare widely used throughout the whole thesis after the second part.

Les travaux exposés dans cette thèse sont consacrés à l’étude de méthodesprécises pour approcher des équations différentielles stochastiques ou deséquations aux dérivées partielles (EDP) déterministes. La première parties’inscrit dans le cadre du développement de méthodes visant à corriger le biaisdans les processus de diffusion paramétrique. Trois modèles sont étudiés enparticulier : Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, Auto-régressif et Moyenne mobile. A l’issuede ce travail, plusieurs approximations de biais ont été proposées suivant deuxapproches : la première consiste en un développement de Taylor del’estimateur obtenu alors que la seconde s'appuie sur une expansionstochastique de celui-ci.La deuxième partie de cette thèse porte sur l’approximation de l’équation de lachaleur obtenue après changement de variables à partir du modèle de Black etScholes. En général, on préfère utiliser des méthodes implicites pour résoudredes EDP paraboliques mais depuis quelques années, les méthodes dites deRunge-Kutta explicites stabilisées, sont de plus en plus utilisées. Nousmontrons que l’utilisation de ce type de méthodes explicites et notamment lesschémas ROCK donnent de très bons résultats même si les conditions initialessont peu régulières, ce qui est le cas dans les modèles financiers / The work presented in this thesis is devoted to the study of precise methods forapproximating stochastic differential equations (SDE) or deterministic partialdifferential equations (PDE). The first part is devoted to the development ofbias correction methods in parametric diffusion processes. Three models arestudied in particular : Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, auto-regressive and Movingaverage. At the end of this work, several approximations of bias have beenproposed following two approaches : the first consists in a Taylor developmentof the obtained estimator while the second one relies on a stochastic expansionof the latter.The second part of this thesis deals with the approximation of the heatequation obtained after changing variables from the Black-Scholes model. Likethe vast majority of PDE, this equation does not have an exact solution, sosolutions must be approached using explicit or implicit time schemes. Itis often customary to prefer the use of implicit methods to solve parabolic PDEsuch as the heat equation, but in the past few years, the stabilized explicitRunge-Kutta methods which have the largest possible domains of stabilityalong the negative real axis, are increasingly used. We show that the useof this type of explicit methods and in particular the ROCK (Runge-Orthogonal-Chebyshev-Kutta) schemes give very good results even if the initial conditionsare not very regular, which is the case in the financial models

We prove that every (nice) Feller process is an It^o process in the sense of Cinlar, Jacod, Protter and Sharpe (1980). Next we generalize the notion of the symbol and define it for this larger class of processes. As examples the solutions of stochastic differential equations are considered. The symbol is then used to derive a quick approach to the semimartingale characteristics as well as the generator of the process under consideration. Finally we give some examples of how our methods work for processes used in mathematical finance. / Wir haben gezeigt, dass jeder (nette) Feller Prozess ein It^o Prozess im Sinne von Cinlar, Jacod, Protter und Sharpe (1980) ist. Es stellt sich heraus, dass man den Begriff des Symbols, der für Feller Prozesse bekannt ist, auf diese größere Klasse verallgemeinern kann. Dieses Symbol haben wir für die Lösungen verschiedener stochastischer Differentialgleichungen berechnet. Außerdem haben wir gezeigt, dass das Symbol einen schnellen Zugang zur Berechnung der Semimartingal-Charakteristiken und des Erzeugers eines It^o Prozesses liefert. Zuletzt wurden die Ergebnisse auf Prozesse angewendet, die in der Finanzmathematik gebräuchlich sind. - (Die Dissertation ist veröffentlicht im Shaker Verlag GmbH, Postfach 101818, 52018 Aachen, Deutschland, http://www.shaker.de, ISBN: 978-3-8322-8244-8)

In this thesis, we present a new existence result for Lévy-type processes. Lévy-type processes behave locally like a Lévy process, but the Lévy triplet may depend on the current position of the process. They can be characterized by their so-called symbol; this is the analogue of the characteristic exponent in the Lévy case. Using a parametrix construction, we prove the existence of Lévy-type processes with a given symbol under weak regularity assumptions on the regularity of the symbol. Applications range from existence results for stable-like processes and mixed processes to uniqueness results for Lévy-driven stochastic differential equations. Moreover, we discuss sufficient conditions for the existence of moments of Lévy-type processes and derive estimates for fractional moments.

Cette thèse est consacrée à l'étude des applications de la théorie des erreurs par formes de Dirichlet. Notre travail se divise en trois parties. La première analyse les modèles gouvernés par une équation différentielle stochastique. Après un court chapitre technique, un modèle innovant pour les carnets d’ordres est proposé. Nous considérons que le spread bid-ask n'est pas un défaut, mais plutôt une propriété intrinsèque du marché. L'incertitude est portée par le mouvement Brownien qui conduit l'actif. Nous montrons que l'évolution des spread peut être évaluée grâce à des formules fermées et nous étudions l'impact de l'incertitude du sous-jacent sur les produits dérivés. En suite, nous introduisons le modèle PBS pour le pricing des options européennes. L'idée novatrice est de distinguer la volatilité du marché par rapport au paramètre utilisé par les traders pour se couvrir. Nous assumons la première constante, alors que le deuxième devient une estimation subjective et erronée de la première. Nous prouvons que ce modèle prévoit un spread bid-ask et un smile de volatilité. Les propriétés plus intéressantes de ce modèle sont l’existence de formules fermés pour le pricing, l'impact de la dérive du sous-jacent et une efficace stratégie de calibration. La seconde partie s'intéresse aux modèles décrit par une équation aux dérivées partielles. Les cas linéaire et non-linéaire sont analysés séparément. Dans le premier nous montrons des relations intéressantes entre la théorie des erreurs et celui des ondelettes. Dans le cas non-linéaire nous étudions la sensibilité des solutions à l’aide de la théorie des erreurs. Sauf dans le cas d’une solution exacte, il y a deux approches possibles : on peut d’abord discrétiser l’EDP et étudier la sensibilité du problème discrétisé, soit démontrer que les sensibilités théoriques vérifient des EDP. Les deux cas sont étudiés, et nous prouvons que les sharp et le biais sont solutions d’EDP linéaires dépendantes de la solution de l’EDP originaire et nous proposons des algorithmes pour évaluer numériquement les sensibilités. Enfin, la troisième partie est dédiée aux équations stochastiques aux dérivées partielles. Notre analyse se divise en deux chapitres. D’abord nous étudions la transmission de l’incertitude, présente dans la condition initiale, à la solution de l’EDPS. En suite, nous analysons l'impact d'une perturbation dans les termes fonctionnelles de l’EDPS et dans le coefficient de la fonction de Green associée. Dans le deux cas, nous prouvons que le sharp et le biais sont solutions de deux EDPS linéaires dépendantes de la solution de l’EDPS originaire / This thesis is devoted to the study of the applications of the error theory using Dirichlet forms. Our work is split into three parts. The first one deals with the models described by stochastic differential equations. After a short technical chapter, an innovative model for order books is proposed. We assume that the bid-ask spread is not an imperfection, but an intrinsic property of exchange markets instead. The uncertainty is carried by the Brownian motion guiding the asset. We find that spread evolutions can be evaluated using closed formulae and we estimate the impact of the underlying uncertainty on the related contingent claims. Afterwards, we deal with the PBS model, a new model to price European options. The seminal idea is to distinguish the market volatility with respect to the parameter used by traders for hedging. We assume the former constant, while the latter volatility being an erroneous subjective estimation of the former. We prove that this model anticipates a bid-ask spread and a smiled implied volatility curve. Major properties of this model are the existence of closed formulae for prices, the impact of the underlying drift and an efficient calibration strategy. The second part deals with the models described by partial differential equations. Linear and non-linear PDEs are examined separately. In the first case, we show some interesting relations between the error and wavelets theories. When non-linear PDEs are concerned, we study the sensitivity of the solution using error theory. Except when exact solution exists, two possible approaches are detailed: first, we analyze the sensitivity obtained by taking “derivatives” of the discrete governing equations. Then, we study the PDEs solved by the sensitivity of the theoretical solutions. In both cases, we show that sharp and bias solve linear PDE depending on the solution of the former PDE itself and we suggest algorithms to evaluate numerically the sensitivities. Finally, the third part is devoted to stochastic partial differential equations. Our analysis is split into two chapters. First, we study the transmission of an uncertainty, present on starting conditions, on the solution of SPDE. Then, we analyze the impact of a perturbation of the functional terms of SPDE and the coefficient of the related Green function. In both cases, we show that the sharp and bias verify linear SPDE depending on the solution of the former SPDE itself / Questa tesi é dedicata allo studio delle applicazioni della teoria degli errori tramite forme di Dirichlet, il nostro lavoro si divide in tre parti. Nella prima vengono studiati i modelli descritti da un’equazione differenziale stocastica: dopo un breve capitolo con risultati tecnici viene descritto un modello innovativo per i libri d’ordini. La presenza dei differenziali denarolettera viene considerata non come un’imperfezione, bensi una proprietà intrinseca dei mercati. L’incertezza viene descritta come un rumore sul moto Browniano sottostante all’azione; dimostriamo che l’evoluzione di questi differenziali puó essere valutata attraverso formule chiuse e stimiamo l’impatto dell’incertezza del sottostante sui prodotti derivati. In seguito proponiamo un nuovo modello, chiamato PBS, per il prezzaggio delle opzioni di tipo europeo: l’idea innovativa consiste nel distinguere la volatilità di mercato dal parametro usato dai trader per la copertura. Noi supponiamo la prima constante, mentre il secondo diventa una stima soggettiva ed erronea della prima. Dimostriamo che questo modello prevede dei differenziali lettera-denaro e uno smile di volatilità implicita. Le maggiori proprietà di questo modello sono l’esistenza di formule chiuse per il princing, l’impatto del drift del sottostante e un’efficace strategia per la calibrazione. La seconda parte è dedicata allo studio dei modelli descritti da delle equazioni alle derivate perziali. I casi lineare e non-lineare sono trattati separatamente. Nel primo caso mostriamo interessanti relazioni tra la teoria degli errori e quella delle wavelets. Nel caso delle EDP non-lineari studiamo la sensibilità della soluzione usando la teoria degli errori. Due possibili approcci esistono, salvo quando la soluzione è esplicita. Possiamo prima discretizzare il problema e studiare la sensibilità delle equazioni discretizzate, oppure possiamo dimostrare che le sensibilità teoriche verificano, a loro volta, delle EDP dipendenti dalla soluzione della EDP iniziale. Entrambi gli approcci sono descritti e vengono proposti degli algoritmi per valutare le sensibilità numericamente. Infine, la terza parte è dedicata ai modelli descritti da un’equazione stocastica alle derivate parziali. La nostra analisi é divisa in due capitoli. Nel primo viene studiato l’impatto di un’incertezza, presente nella condizione iniziale, sulla soluzione dell’EDPS, nella seconda si analizzano gli impatti di una perturbazione dei termini funzionali dell’EDPS del coefficiente della funzione di Green associata. In entrambi i casi dimostriamo che lo sharp e la discrepanza sono soluzioni di due EDPS lineari dipendenti dalla soluzione dell’EDPS iniziale

Nous nous intéressons à des équations différentielles stochastiques obtenues en perturbant par un bruit blanc des équations différentielles ordinaires admettant N orbites périodiques asymptotiquement stables. Nous construisons une chaîne de Markov à temps discret et espace d’états continu appelée application de Poincaré aléatoire qui hérite du comportement métastable du système. Nous montrons que ce processus admet exactement N valeurs propres qui sont exponentiellement proches de 1 et nous donnons des expressions pour ces valeurs propres et les fonctions propres associées en termes de fonctions committeurs dans les voisinages des orbites périodiques. Nous montrons également que ces valeurs propres sont bien séparées du reste du spectre. Chacune de ces valeurs propres exponentiellement proche de 1 est également reliée à un temps d’atteinte de ces voisinages. De plus, les N valeurs propres exponentiellement proches de 1 et fonctions propres à gauche et à droite associées peuvent être respectivement approchées par des valeurs propres principales, des distributions quasi-stationnaires, et des fonctions propres principales à droite de processus tués quand ils atteignent ces voisinages. Les preuves reposent sur une représentation de type Feynman–Kac pour les fonctions propres, la transformée harmonique de Doob, la théorie spectrale des opérateurs compacts et une propriété de type équilibré détaillé satisfaite par les fonctions committeurs. / We consider stochastic differential equations, obtained by adding weak Gaussian white noise to ordinary differential equations admitting N asymptotically stable periodic orbits. We construct a discrete-time,continuous-space Markov chain, called a random Poincaré map, which encodes the metastable behaviour of the system. We show that this process admits exactly N eigenvalues which are exponentially close to 1,and provide expressions for these eigenvalues and their left and right eigenfunctions in terms of committorfunctions of neighbourhoods of periodic orbits. We also provide a bound for the remaining part of the spectrum. The eigenvalues that are exponentially close to 1 and the right and left eigenfunctions are well-approximated by principal eigenvalues, quasistationary distributions, and principal right eigenfunctions of processes killed upon hitting some of these neighbourhoods. Each eigenvalue that is exponentially close to 1is also related to the mean exit time from some metastable neighborhood of the periodic orbits. The proofsrely on Feynman–Kac-type representation formulas for eigenfunctions, Doob’s h-transform, spectral theory of compact operators, and a recently discovered detailed balance property satisfied by committor functions.

Economic uncertainty may affect significantly people’s behavior and hence macroeconomic variables. It is thus important to understand how people behave in presence of different kinds of economic risk. The present dissertation focuses therefore on the impact of the uncertainty in capital and labor income on the individual saving behavior. The underlying uncertain variables are here modeled as stochastic processes that each obey a specific stochastic differential equation, where uncertainty stems either from Poisson or Lévy processes. The results on the optimal behavior are derived by maximizing the individual expected lifetime utility. The first chapter is concerned with the necessary mathematical tools, the change-of-variables formula and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation under Poisson uncertainty. We extend their possible field of application in order make them appropriate for the analysis of the dynamic stochastic optimization problems occurring in the following chapters and elsewhere. The second chapter considers an optimum-saving problem with labor income, where capital risk stems from asset prices that follow geometric L´evy processes. Chapter 3, finally, studies the optimal saving behavior if agents face not only risk but also uncertain spells of unemployment. To this end, we turn back to Poisson processes, which here are used to model properly the separation and matching process.

Financial processes may possess long memory and their probability densities may display heavy tails. Many models have been developed to deal with this tail behaviour, which reflects the jumps in the sample paths. On the other hand, the presence of long memory, which contradicts the efficient market hypothesis, is still an issue for further debates. These difficulties present challenges with the problems of memory detection and modelling the co-presence of long memory and heavy tails. This PhD project aims to respond to these challenges. The first part aims to detect memory in a large number of financial time series on stock prices and exchange rates using their scaling properties. Since financial time series often exhibit stochastic trends, a common form of nonstationarity, strong trends in the data can lead to false detection of memory. We will take advantage of a technique known as multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) that can systematically eliminate trends of different orders. This method is based on the identification of scaling of the q-th-order moments and is a generalisation of the standard detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) which uses only the second moment; that is, q = 2. We also consider the rescaled range R/S analysis and the periodogram method to detect memory in financial time series and compare their results with the MF-DFA. An interesting finding is that short memory is detected for stock prices of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and long memory is found present in the time series of two exchange rates, namely the French franc and the Deutsche mark. Electricity price series of the five states of Australia are also found to possess long memory. For these electricity price series, heavy tails are also pronounced in their probability densities. The second part of the thesis develops models to represent short-memory and longmemory financial processes as detected in Part I. These models take the form of continuous-time AR(∞) -type equations whose kernel is the Laplace transform of a finite Borel measure. By imposing appropriate conditions on this measure, short memory or long memory in the dynamics of the solution will result. A specific form of the models, which has a good MA(∞) -type representation, is presented for the short memory case. Parameter estimation of this type of models is performed via least squares, and the models are applied to the stock prices in the AMEX, which have been established in Part I to possess short memory. By selecting the kernel in the continuous-time AR(∞) -type equations to have the form of Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative, we obtain a fractional stochastic differential equation driven by Brownian motion. This type of equations is used to represent financial processes with long memory, whose dynamics is described by the fractional derivative in the equation. These models are estimated via quasi-likelihood, namely via a continuoustime version of the Gauss-Whittle method. The models are applied to the exchange rates and the electricity prices of Part I with the aim of confirming their possible long-range dependence established by MF-DFA. The third part of the thesis provides an application of the results established in Parts I and II to characterise and classify financial markets. We will pay attention to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the NASDAQ Stock Exchange (NASDAQ) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The parameters from MF-DFA and those of the short-memory AR(∞) -type models will be employed in this classification. We propose the Fisher discriminant algorithm to find a classifier in the two and three-dimensional spaces of data sets and then provide cross-validation to verify discriminant accuracies. This classification is useful for understanding and predicting the behaviour of different processes within the same market. The fourth part of the thesis investigates the heavy-tailed behaviour of financial processes which may also possess long memory. We consider fractional stochastic differential equations driven by stable noise to model financial processes such as electricity prices. The long memory of electricity prices is represented by a fractional derivative, while the stable noise input models their non-Gaussianity via the tails of their probability density. A method using the empirical densities and MF-DFA will be provided to estimate all the parameters of the model and simulate sample paths of the equation. The method is then applied to analyse daily spot prices for five states of Australia. Comparison with the results obtained from the R/S analysis, periodogram method and MF-DFA are provided. The results from fractional SDEs agree with those from MF-DFA, which are based on multifractal scaling, while those from the periodograms, which are based on the second order, seem to underestimate the long memory dynamics of the process. This highlights the need and usefulness of fractal methods in modelling non-Gaussian financial processes with long memory.