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The instability of downside risk measures

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  • Istvan Varga-Haszonits
  • Imre Kondor

Abstract

We study the feasibility and noise sensitivity of portfolio optimization under some downside risk measures (Value-at-Risk, Expected Shortfall, and semivariance) when they are estimated by fitting a parametric distribution on a finite sample of asset returns. We find that the existence of the optimum is a probabilistic issue, depending on the particular random sample, in all three cases. At a critical combination of the parameters of these problems we find an algorithmic phase transition, separating the phase where the optimization is feasible from the one where it is not. This transition is similar to the one discovered earlier for Expected Shortfall based on historical time series. We employ the replica method to compute the phase diagram, as well as to obtain the critical exponent of the estimation error that diverges at the critical point. The analytical results are corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Istvan Varga-Haszonits & Imre Kondor, 2008. "The instability of downside risk measures," Papers 0811.0800, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:0811.0800
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Laurent Laloux & Pierre Cizeau & Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & Marc Potters, 1998. "Noise dressing of financial correlation matrices," Science & Finance (CFM) working paper archive 500051, Science & Finance, Capital Fund Management.
    2. Vasiliki Plerou & Parameswaran Gopikrishnan & Bernd Rosenow & Luis A. Nunes Amaral & H. Eugene Stanley, 1999. "Universal and non-universal properties of cross-correlations in financial time series," Papers cond-mat/9902283, arXiv.org.
    3. Ledoit, Olivier & Wolf, Michael, 2003. "Improved estimation of the covariance matrix of stock returns with an application to portfolio selection," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 603-621, December.
    4. Carlo Acerbi & Dirk Tasche, 2002. "Expected Shortfall: A Natural Coherent Alternative to Value at Risk," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 31(2), pages 379-388, July.
    5. Imre Kondor & Istvan Varga-Haszonits, 2008. "Feasibility of Portfolio Optimization under Coherent Risk Measures," Papers 0803.2283, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2008.
    6. Carlo Acerbi & Claudio Nordio & Carlo Sirtori, 2001. "Expected Shortfall as a Tool for Financial Risk Management," Papers cond-mat/0102304, arXiv.org.
    7. Kondor, Imre & Pafka, Szilard & Nagy, Gabor, 2007. "Noise sensitivity of portfolio selection under various risk measures," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1545-1573, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fabio Caccioli & Imre Kondor & G'abor Papp, 2015. "Portfolio Optimization under Expected Shortfall: Contour Maps of Estimation Error," Papers 1510.04943, arXiv.org.
    2. Caccioli, Fabio & Kondor, Imre & Papp, Gábor, 2015. "Portfolio optimization under expected shortfall: contour maps of estimation error," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119463, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Imre Kondor & Fabio Caccioli & G'abor Papp & Matteo Marsili, 2015. "Contour map of estimation error for Expected Shortfall," Papers 1502.06217, arXiv.org.
    4. Fabio Caccioli & Imre Kondor & G'abor Papp, 2015. "Portfolio Optimization under Expected Shortfall: Contour Maps of Estimation Error," Papers 1510.04943, arXiv.org.
    5. Axel Pruser & Imre Kondor & Andreas Engel, 2021. "Aspects of a phase transition in high-dimensional random geometry," Papers 2105.04395, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    6. G'abor Papp & Imre Kondor & Fabio Caccioli, 2021. "Optimizing Expected Shortfall under an $\ell_1$ constraint -- an analytic approach," Papers 2103.04375, arXiv.org.
    7. Papp, Gábor & Caccioli, Fabio & Kondor, Imre, 2019. "Bias-variance trade-off in portfolio optimization under expected shortfall with ℓ 2 regularization," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Fabio Caccioli & Imre Kondor & Matteo Marsili & Susanne Still, 2014. "$L_p$ regularized portfolio optimization," Papers 1404.4040, arXiv.org.
    9. G'abor Papp & Fabio Caccioli & Imre Kondor, 2016. "Bias-variance trade-off in portfolio optimization under Expected Shortfall with $\ell_2$ regularization," Papers 1602.08297, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2018.
    10. Fabio Caccioli & Imre Kondor & Matteo Marsili & Susanne Still, 2016. "Liquidity Risk And Instabilities In Portfolio Optimization," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(05), pages 1-28, August.
    11. Papp, Gábor & Kondor, Imre & Caccioli, Fabio, 2021. "Optimizing expected shortfall under an ℓ1 constraint—an analytic approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111051, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Imre Kondor, 2014. "Estimation Error of Expected Shortfall," Papers 1402.5534, arXiv.org.

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