Value at Risk and Self-similarity

This seminar was given 17 March 2009 as part of the PhD seminar series organised by the School of Economics & Finance of the University of St Andrews. It addresses the distribution of stock prices and returns. Dr Menkens has analyzed empirical data and will in particular discuss the issue how to estimate the so called Hurst parameter which models a memory effect on stock prices.

Videos are in MP4 format. Slides are PDF.

Morning video 1 (57 minutes) - Dr Menkens's presentation begins with an introduction to value at risk. Download MP4 | Slides: Introduction to VAR (until slide 47)

Morning video 2 (26 minutes) - Dr Menkens concludes his introductory presentation and starts to elaborate on the question of self-similarity. Download MP4 | Slides: Introduction to VAR (slides 47 - 53), Value at risk and self-similarity (slides 1- 18)

Afternoon video 1 (56 minutes) - Dr Menkens concludes the question of self-similarity and explains crash modelling. Download MP4 | Slides: Value at risk and self-similarity (slides 19-45), Crash hedging (slides 1 - 13)

Afternoon video 2 (42 minutes) - Dr Menkens concludes his lectures by presenting the concept of optimal portfolios. Download MP4 | Slides: Crash hedging (slides 14 - 54)

About the Speaker

Dr Olaf Menkens is Lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Dublin City University (Ireland). His research interests are in mathematical finance, in particular crash hedging strategies and optimal portfolios under the threat of a crash, value at risk and self-similarity, insider trading and liquidity risk.