Application of a general risk management model to portfolio optimization problems with elliptical distributed returns for risk neutral and risk averse decision makers

Abstract

In this paper portfolio problems with linear loss functions and multivariate elliptical distributed returns are studied. We consider two risk measures, Value-at-Risk and Conditional-Value-at-Risk, and two types of decision makers, risk neutral and risk averse. For Value-at-Risk, we show that the optimal solution does not change with the type of decision maker. However, this observation is not true for Conditional-Value-at-Risk. We then show for Conditional-Value-at-Risk that the objective function can be approximated by Monte Carlo simulation using only a univariate distribution. To solve the equivalent Markowitz model, we modify and implement a finite step algorithm. Finally, a numerical study is conducted.