New model values equity-linked securities with guaranteed return.
problem Valuation of equity-linked securities with guaranteed return.
method Replicate security price as sum of guaranteed amount and Asian style option price on basket.
result Analytical formulas derived for security price and hedge ratios.
Embedding RL policies in RKHS for robustness and theoretical guarantees.
problem Stability and theoretical guarantees in RL policy representation.
method Low-dimensional embedding of RL policies in RKHS.
result Embedded policies maintain high return with strong theoretical guarantees.
Deep reinforcement learning improves trading performance with predictable returns.
problem Improving trading performance in financial markets with low signal-to-noise ratio.
method Investigates model-free deep reinforcement learning traders in a market with known mean-reverting factors.
result DRL agents outperform benchmarks in misspecified price dynamics and extreme events.
Exponential functionals of Brownian motion have been extensively studied in financial and insurance mathematics due to their broad applications, for example, in the pricing of Asian options. The Black-Scholes model is appealing because of mathematical tractability, yet empirical evidence shows that geometric Brownian m…
Model approximates market prices and returns without prior market dynamics.
problem Simultaneously approximate market prices and log returns.
method GDN model of Kratsios and Papon (2022) for generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process.
result Universal approximation guarantees for conditional distributions and contingent claims.
New algorithms improve performance guarantees for multi-armed bandits problems.
problem Allocating effort under uncertainty in scenarios like investing research effort.
method Proposed two new families of bandit algorithms with stronger guarantees.
result Achieved optimal dependence on k with additional properties of arm reward curves.
This paper applies quantum probability theory to model asset returns, avoiding assumptions about quantum effects.
problem Modeling asset returns with classical probability theory.
method Derives a Schrödinger-like trading equation using quantum probability, linking it to traders' decisions and market behaviors.
result Quantum probability can describe multimodal distributions of asset returns without assuming quantum effects.
Estimates mean and covariance for large, unbalanced stock returns panels.
problem Estimating mean and covariance in large, unbalanced panel data.
method Nonparametric, kernel-based joint estimator for conditional mean and covariance matrices.
result The idiosyncratic risk explains more than 75% of cross-sectional variance.
We consider a discrete-time, linear state equation with delay which arises as a model for a trader's account value when buying and selling a risky asset in a financial market. The state equation includes a nonnegative feedback gain α and a sequence v(k) which models asset returns which are within known bounds but o…
Growth-optimal portfolios are guaranteed to accumulate higher wealth than any other investment strategy in the long run. However, they tend to be risky in the short term. For serially uncorrelated markets, similar portfolios with more robust guarantees have been recently proposed. This paper extends these robust portfo…
This work provides guarantees for off-policy function estimation under realizability assumptions.
problem Estimating the value function of a policy under user-specified error-measuring distributions.
method The approach involves imposing a flexible regularization on the MIS objectives to account for an arbitrary user-specified distribution.
result Exact characterization of the optimal dual solution that determines the data-coverage assumption in the case of value-function learning.
NFTs with diverse rare attributes sell at higher prices.
problem Understanding how rarity affects NFT market dynamics.
method Analyzed 3.7M NFT transactions across 410 collections.
result Rarer NFTs sell for higher prices and are less risky.
T-SCI improves Cox-MLP's guaranteed coverage for censored data.
problem Losing guaranteed coverage when relaxing linear assumption with neural networks.
method Two-stage conformal inference algorithm with non-conformity score.
result T-SCI provides guaranteed coverage under milder assumptions.
A model explains stock returns and volatility using multifractal and rough components.
problem Reconciling multifractal stock returns and rough index volatilities.
method Nested factor model with multifractal and rough volatility components.
result The model explains stock index Hurst exponents larger than individual stock exponents.
Unified framework for reliable uncertainty quantification in RL.
problem Uncertainty quantification in high-stakes reinforcement learning.
method Unified conformal prediction framework integrating distributional RL and conformal calibration.
result Significantly improved coverage and reliability over standard methods.
New pension design reduces volatility without guarantees.
problem Pension volatility and guarantees issues.
method Split premium, invest in funds, redistribute to smooth volatility.
result Maximizes total accumulated capital at retirement.
PS^2 selects assets then weights for high-dimensional investing.
problem High-dimensional mean--variance investing challenges.
method Two-step framework: Lasso screening followed by standard portfolio estimation.
result FPS^2 with defactored returns improves performance.
Diminishing-returns (DR) submodular optimization is an important field with many real-world applications in machine learning, economics and communication systems. It captures a subclass of non-convex optimization that provides both practical and theoretical guarantees. In this paper, we study the fundamental problem of…
Constructs tail-specific prediction intervals for financial applications
problem Financial applications require strict control on the left tail
method Extends classical conformal frameworks to provide explicit tail-specific guarantees
result Improved directional calibration in skewed data
Variable annuities (VA) are popular insurance products. VAs provides the insured with a guaranteed accumulation rate on their premium at maturity. In addition, the insured may receive extra benefit if returns of underlying funds are high enough. Here we consider a special case of VA with high-water mark feature and Gua…
Algorithm learns decision trees from noisy data.
problem Learning stochastic decision trees from corrupted samples.
method Quasipolynomial-time algorithm for adversarial noise.
result Returns a hypothesis with error within 2η+ε of optimal. New algorithm for online portfolio selection with reduced runtime.
problem Maximizing total return in online portfolio selection.
method Minimizes current logarithmic loss regularized by log-determinant of Hessian.
result Achieves regret guarantee similar to Universal Portfolios with reduced runtime.
New method tackles online DR-submodular maximization with improved regret guarantees.
problem Online maximization of non-monotone DR-submodular functions over down-closed convex sets.
method 1/e-linearization through exponential reparametrization, surrogate potential, and reduction to online linear optimization.
result Achieves O(T1/2) static regret with single gradient query per round, improving state of the art. Develops a unified framework for valuing insurance products with guarantees.
problem Valuing insurance products with guarantees in an affine setting.
method General affine approach to model financial markets, mortality, and policyholder behavior.
result Explicit valuation formulas for variable annuities and related contracts derived.
The guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit (GMWB) rider, as an add on to a variable annuity (VA), guarantees the return of premiums in the form of peri- odic withdrawals while allowing policyholders to participate fully in any market gains. GMWB riders represent an embedded option on the account value with a fee structu…
CDS (credit default swap) contracts that were initiated some time ago frequently have spreads and/or maturities that are not available on the current market of CDSs, and are thus illiquid. This article introduces an incomplete-market approach to valuing illiquid CDSs that, in contrast to the risk-neutral approach of cu…
We study the problem of maximizing a monotone set function subject to a cardinality constraint k in the setting where some number of elements τ is deleted from the returned set. The focus of this work is on the worst-case adversarial setting. While there exist constant-factor guarantees when the function is submodu…
We design a non-convex second-order optimization algorithm that is guaranteed to return an approximate local minimum in time which scales linearly in the underlying dimension and the number of training examples. The time complexity of our algorithm to find an approximate local minimum is even faster than that of gradie…
Understanding generalization in reinforcement learning (RL) is a significant challenge, as many common assumptions of traditional supervised learning theory do not apply. We focus on the special class of reparameterizable RL problems, where the trajectory distribution can be decomposed using the reparametrization trick…
Research examines GMIB and reset options in variable annuities.
problem Understanding the value and rationality of GMIB and reset options.
method Exploration of various parameters affecting GMIB value and calculation of critical future interest rates for reset option rationality.
result Insight into how future market performance and interest rates influence policyholder and insurer actions.
Multi-armed bandits are a quintessential machine learning problem requiring the balancing of exploration and exploitation. While there has been progress in developing algorithms with strong theoretical guarantees, there has been less focus on practical near-optimal finite-time performance. In this paper, we propose an …
Ridge leverage scores provide a balance between low-rank approximation and regularization, and are ubiquitous in randomized linear algebra and machine learning. Deterministic algorithms are also of interest in the moderately big data regime, because deterministic algorithms provide interpretability to the practitioner …
Optimizes bidding strategies for LinkedIn ads across multiple platforms.
problem Optimizing automated bidding agents for dynamic online marketplaces.
method Developed a general optimization framework for buyer's interest, agnostic to auction mechanisms.
result Automatically guarantees the optimality of budget allocation across ad units and platforms.
New algorithm offers costless model selection in contextual bandits.
problem Minimizing cumulative regret in stochastic contextual bandits.
method Gradually increasing class complexity and adapting to the simplest class with dominant estimation variance.
result Costless model selection is feasible under certain conditions, providing improved regret guarantees.
vqSGD reduces communication in distributed optimization with convergence guarantees.
problem Reduction of communication cost in distributed optimization.
method Vector quantization schemes based on convex hull of a point set.
result Asymptotic reduction in communication cost with convergence guarantees.
MDS selects assets by combining daily returns and intraday risk curves, improving portfolio performance.
problem High estimation error in large-scale asset selection.
method Metric Dependence Screening (MDS) incorporating high frequency information as object valued data.
result MDS improves portfolio performance over benchmarks by preserving intraday risk dynamics.
p-index approach shows efficient-contrarian strategy outperforms others in low-sentiment periods
problem Evaluating investment strategies in stock markets
method Using p-index risk measure with European put option
result Efficient-contrarian strategy outperforms others in low-sentiment periods
We address the problem of computing reliable policies in reinforcement learning problems with limited data. In particular, we compute policies that achieve good returns with high confidence when deployed. This objective, known as the \emph{percentile criterion}, can be optimized using Robust MDPs~(RMDPs). RMDPs general…
In this paper the multivariate fractional trading ansatz of money management from Ralph Vince (Portfolio Management Formulas: Mathematical Trading Methods for the Futures, Options, and Stock Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990) is discussed. In particular, we prove existence and uniqueness of an optimal f of the res…
Guaranteed bounds for posterior inference in probabilistic programs.
problem Approximating the posterior distribution of probabilistic programs with provable correctness.
method Interval-based trace semantics, soundness and completeness proofs, weight-aware interval type system.
result Guaranteed bounds on the posterior distribution of probabilistic programs are computed and proven to be correct.
We study the problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function subject to a cardinality constraint k, with the added twist that a number of items τ from the returned set may be removed. We focus on the worst-case setting considered in (Orlin et al., 2016), in which a constant-factor approximation guarantee was g…
Proposes a model to generate high-dimensional financial returns using latent factor structure.
problem Challenges in financial scenario simulation, especially in high-dimensional and small data settings.
method Integrates latent factor structure into generative diffusion processes, decomposing the score function using time-varying orthogonal projections.
result Establishes rigorous statistical guarantees for score estimation and generated distribution, surpassing dimension-dependent limits.
The paper improves recommendation systems by ensuring their outputs are reliable.
problem Recommendation systems often lack reliability guarantees for their outputs.
method The method uses a pre-trained ranking model to create a set of items with rigorous FDR control.
result The approach provides a way to guarantee the reliability of recommendation outputs.
Gradient-free ensemble learns sector forecasts from diverse models.
problem Predicting sector returns in a volatile market.
method Dynamic model combination using out-of-sample R-squared.
result Ensemble outperforms individual models in sector rotation.
Paper develops a new estimator for MDPs' risk functionals with lower variance and bias.
problem Estimating the distribution of returns in MDPs with high variance and bias.
method Developed a doubly robust (DR) estimator for the CDF of returns in MDPs, incorporating model-based estimation to mitigate variance issues.
result The DR estimator achieves lower variance and bias compared to IS estimators, and matches minimax lower bounds.
A key problem in reinforcement learning for control with general function approximators (such as deep neural networks and other nonlinear functions) is that, for many algorithms employed in practice, updates to the policy or Q-function may fail to improve performance---or worse, actually cause the policy performance …
Investors can achieve optimal risk-reward trade-offs with bonds and stocks under mean-reverting stock returns.
problem Optimizing investment strategies with mean-reverting stock returns.
method Calculus of variations to derive the entire family of extremal strategies, not just the optimal ones.
result The value of the portfolio is effectively bounded from below, providing a 'guarantee' on the horizon.
Optimizes retirement income with MBGs and neural networks for longevity risk.
problem Maximizing lifetime withdrawals while managing longevity risk.
method Neural-network optimization under stochastic mortality.
result International diversification and longevity pooling improve retirement outcomes.