Measuring the degree of association between random variables is a task inherent in many practical applications such as risk management and financial modeling. Well-known measures like Spearman's rho and Kendall's tau can be expressed in terms of the underlying copula only, hence, being independent of the underlying univariate marginal distributions. Opposed to these classical measures of association, mutual information, which is derived from information theory, constitutes a fundamentally different approach of measuring association. Although this measure is likewise independent of the univariate margins, it is not a functional of the copula but of the corresponding copula density. Besides the theoretical properties of mutual information as a measure of multivariate association, possibilities to estimate the copula density based on observations of continuous distributions are investigated. To cope with the effect of boundary bias, new estimators are introduced and existing functionals are generalized to the multivariate case. The performance of these estimators is evaluated in comparison to common kernel density estimation schemes. To facilitate variance estimation by means of resampling methods like bootstrapping, an algorithm is introduced, which significantly reduces computation time in comparison with pre-implemented algorithms. In practical applications, complete continuous data is oftentimes not available to the analyst. Instead, categorial data derived from the underlying continuous distribution may be given. Hence, estimation of the copula and its density based on contingency tables is investigated. The newly developed estimators are employed to derive estimates of Spearman's rho and Kendall's tau and their performance is compared.

Safety and Reliability of Complex Engineered Systems contains the Proceedings of the 25th European Safety and Reliability Conference, ESREL 2015, held 7-10 September 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland. It includes about 570 papers accepted for presentation at the conference. These contributions focus on theories and methods in the area of risk, safety and

This book presents a novel approach to time series econometrics, which studies the behavior of nonlinear stochastic processes. This approach allows for an arbitrary dependence structure in the increments and provides a generalization with respect to the standard linear independent increments assumption of classical time series models. The book offers a solution to the problem of a general semiparametric approach, which is given by a concept called C-convolution (convolution of dependent variables), and the corresponding theory of convolution-based copulas. Intended for econometrics and statistics scholars with a special interest in time series analysis and copula functions (or other nonparametric approaches), the book is also useful for doctoral students with a basic knowledge of copula functions wanting to learn about the latest research developments in the field.

Copula Methods in Finance is the first book to address the mathematics of copula functions illustrated with finance applications. It explains copulas by means of applications to major topics in derivative pricing and credit risk analysis. Examples include pricing of the main exotic derivatives (barrier, basket, rainbow options) as well as risk management issues. Particular focus is given to the pricing of asset-backed securities and basket credit derivative products and the evaluation of counterparty risk in derivative transactions.

Statistical Modeling using Local Gaussian Approximation extends powerful characteristics of the Gaussian distribution, perhaps, the most well-known and most used distribution in statistics, to a large class of non-Gaussian and nonlinear situations through local approximation. This extension enables the reader to follow new methods in assessing dependence and conditional dependence, in estimating probability and spectral density functions, and in discrimination. Chapters in this release cover Parametric, nonparametric, locally parametric, Dependence, Local Gaussian correlation and dependence, Local Gaussian correlation and the copula, Applications in finance, and more. Additional chapters explores Measuring dependence and testing for independence, Time series dependence and spectral analysis, Multivariate density estimation, Conditional density estimation, The local Gaussian partial correlation, Regression and conditional regression quantiles, and a A local Gaussian Fisher discriminant. - Reviews local dependence modeling with applications to time series and finance markets - Introduces new techniques for density estimation, conditional density estimation, and tests of conditional independence with applications in economics - Evaluates local spectral analysis, discovering hidden frequencies in extremes and hidden phase differences - Integrates textual content with three useful R packages

Copulas are mathematical objects that fully capture the dependence structure among random variables and hence offer great flexibility in building multivariate stochastic models. Since their introduction in the early 50's, copulas have gained considerable popularity in several fields of applied mathematics, such as finance, insurance and reliability theory. Today, they represent a well-recognized tool for market and credit models, aggregation of risks, portfolio selection, etc. This book is divided into two main parts: Part I - "Surveys" contains 11 chapters that provide an up-to-date account of essential aspects of copula models. Part II - "Contributions" collects the extended versions of 6 talks selected from papers presented at the workshop in Warsaw.

Statistical Analysis of Financial Data covers the use of statistical analysis and the methods of data science to model and analyze financial data. The first chapter is an overview of financial markets, describing the market operations and using exploratory data analysis to illustrate the nature of financial data. The software used to obtain the data for the examples in the first chapter and for all computations and to produce the graphs is R. However discussion of R is deferred to an appendix to the first chapter, where the basics of R, especially those most relevant in financial applications, are presented and illustrated. The appendix also describes how to use R to obtain current financial data from the internet. Chapter 2 describes the methods of exploratory data analysis, especially graphical methods, and illustrates them on real financial data. Chapter 3 covers probability distributions useful in financial analysis, especially heavy-tailed distributions, and describes methods of computer simulation of financial data. Chapter 4 covers basic methods of statistical inference, especially the use of linear models in analysis, and Chapter 5 describes methods of time series with special emphasis on models and methods applicable to analysis of financial data. Features * Covers statistical methods for analyzing models appropriate for financial data, especially models with outliers or heavy-tailed distributions. * Describes both the basics of R and advanced techniques useful in financial data analysis. * Driven by real, current financial data, not just stale data deposited on some static website. * Includes a large number of exercises, many requiring the use of open-source software to acquire real financial data from the internet and to analyze it.

The latest tools and techniques for pricing and risk management This book introduces readers to the use of copula functions to represent the dynamics of financial assets and risk factors, integrated temporal and cross-section applications. The first part of the book will briefly introduce the standard the theory of copula functions, before examining the link between copulas and Markov processes. It will then introduce new techniques to design Markov processes that are suited to represent the dynamics of market risk factors and their co-movement, providing techniques to both estimate and simulate such dynamics. The second part of the book will show readers how to apply these methods to the evaluation of pricing of multivariate derivative contracts in the equity and credit markets. It will then move on to explore the applications of joint temporal and cross-section aggregation to the problem of risk integration.

This book combines theory and practice to analyze risk measurement from different points of view. The limitations of a model depend on the framework on which it has been built as well as specific assumptions, and risk managers need to be aware of these when assessing risks. The authors investigate the impact of these limitations, propose an alternative way of thinking that challenges traditional assumptions, and also provide novel solutions. Starting with the traditional Value at Risk (VaR) model and its limitations, the book discusses concepts like the expected shortfall, the spectral measure, the use of the spectrum, and the distortion risk measures from both a univariate and a multivariate perspective.