# Tag Info

6

This is indeed a subtle point. What is generally meant with this statement is that correlation is going up in bear markets, so it is not so much the "turmoil" part (i.e. volatility per se) but the "trend" (i.e. negative in this case) part. Putting it another way is that when you control for volatility not the correlation but the covariance (which is the part ...

4

With respect to issue one, it can be simpler to consider the case where the constraint on the expected return is an equality. In that case, the first problem can be transformed to Minimize with respect to $\left\{ x,\lambda_{1},\lambda_{2}\right\}$: $x'\Sigma x + \lambda_{1} (\mu'x - r) + \lambda_{2} (1'x - 1)$ by the technique of Lagrangian multipliers, ...

4

The initial investment is the capital in the account used to support the portfolio, not the cost of the assets in the portfolio. For example, when you sell a stock or bond short, your account doesn't actually accrue any cash. Instead you start receiving a regular cash flow. There isn't necessarily a difference between these quantities in a long-only ...

4

The given matrix can not represent a covariance matrix since it would imply that asset 1 is negatively correlated to asset 2 and asset 3. But asset 2 is negatively correlated to asset 3 which contradicts the first statement. In general a covariance matrix has to be positive semi-definite and symmetric, and conversely every positive semi-definite symmetric ...

4

The unconstrained mean-variance problem $$w_{mv,unc}\equiv argmax\left\{ w'\mu-\frac{1}{2}\lambda w'\Sigma w\right\}$$ can easily be found by taking the derivative $$\frac{\partial}{\partial w}\left(w'\mu-\frac{1}{2}\lambda w'\Sigma w\right)=\mu-\lambda\Sigma w$$ setting it to zero, and solving for $w$. This gives ...

3

This however, goes against the conventional wisdom that variance becomes smaller as you hold the portfolio longer. Which conventional wisdom says this? If the variance decreases with time, then the likelyhood of getting a return close to the expected return increases (Cecbycev's inequality). So you are telling me, I know more about the long-time ...

3

Accurately stated: Diversification helps during turmoil, but helps less as what would be expected by using $w^T \Omega w$ as the portfolio variance where the off-diagonal covariances are estimated during tranquil periods. This is because correlations and covariances change during turmoil, typically increasing. This reduces the benefit of diversification ...

3

There are several measures discussed in the literature, the classical approach is Markowitz mean-variance portfolio optimization. The formula for portfolio return variance is $$\sigma_p^2 = \sum_i w_i^2 \sigma_{i}^2 + \sum_i \sum_{j \neq i} w_i w_j \sigma_i \sigma_j \rho_{ij}$$ where $\rho_{ij}$ are the correlations betweent the assets. Others suggeste ...

3

The answer to the original question is simple: the Chopra-Ziemba paper is highly flawed and unreliable. Note that the framework is in-sample and based on a utility function. It has nothing to do with out-of-sample behavior of the mean vs. the covariance in an optimization. Estimation error grows linearly in the mean but quadratically in the covariance. At ...

2

The Lyxor white paper Regularization of Portfolio Allocation contains a lot on this topic. The head of quant research there, Thierry Roncalli, also held a talk about this recently.

1

Sure, the variance of the total wealth can be expressed in terms of the variances and covariances of the prices of the assets. If $$W = \sum_{i} \pi_i P_i$$ where $\pi_i$ is the total dollar amount invested in asset $i$ with price $P_i$. The variance of total wealth is then  Var(W) = \sum_i \pi_i Var(P_i) + \sum_i \sum_{j, j\neq i} \pi_i \pi_j Cov(P_i, ...

1

See for reference Merton 1971 Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model is an excellent application of the topic. As @phi mentioned Arbitrage theory in Continuous Time by Bjork is an excellent resource as well. Dixit and Pindyck Investment Under Uncertainty The pitfall is essentially that in many problems we face the curse of ...

1

In mean-variance analysis, you combine different assets to minimize variance and maximize expected return. The hyperbola is not a function of the number of assets, but of their mean and variance. If the efficient frontier where a tangent to the y-axis (which can't be) or nearly a tangent, that would mean you would have almost zero portfolio-variance, which ...

1

One approach which I've encountered in practice is Optimal risk budgeting (ORB). This method is similar to Black Litterman in the sense that it uses active investor views as a starting point. The mean variance optimization is then restricted to those assets for which an active investor view is available, and the allocation is calculated with the constraint ...

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