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Robustness in the Optimization of Risk Measures

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  • Paul Embrechts
  • Alexander Schied
  • Ruodu Wang

Abstract

We study issues of robustness in the context of Quantitative Risk Management and Optimization. We develop a general methodology for determining whether a given risk measurement related optimization problem is robust, which we call "robustness against optimization". The new notion is studied for various classes of risk measures and expected utility and loss functions. Motivated by practical issues from financial regulation, special attention is given to the two most widely used risk measures in the industry, Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES). We establish that for a class of general optimization problems, VaR leads to non-robust optimizers whereas convex risk measures generally lead to robust ones. Our results offer extra insight on the ongoing discussion about the comparative advantages of VaR and ES in banking and insurance regulation. Our notion of robustness is conceptually different from the field of robust optimization, to which some interesting links are derived.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Embrechts & Alexander Schied & Ruodu Wang, 2018. "Robustness in the Optimization of Risk Measures," Papers 1809.09268, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1809.09268
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Xia Han & Bin Wang & Ruodu Wang & Qinyu Wu, 2021. "Risk Concentration and the Mean-Expected Shortfall Criterion," Papers 2108.05066, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2022.
    2. Henryk Zähle, 2022. "A concept of copula robustness and its applications in quantitative risk management," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 825-875, October.
    3. Tolulope Fadina & Yang Liu & Ruodu Wang, 2021. "A Framework for Measures of Risk under Uncertainty," Papers 2110.10792, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2023.
    4. Martin Herdegen & Nazem Khan, 2022. "$\rho$-arbitrage and $\rho$-consistent pricing for star-shaped risk measures," Papers 2202.07610, arXiv.org, revised May 2024.

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