This paper gives a brief review of the theory and applications of the robust optimization. Major issues including tractability, relations with relevant optimization frameworks, and dynamic robust optimization are addressed and future research directions are presented.

This note is concerned with the use of incomplete weights in multiple criteria decision making. In an earlier study, an optimistic use of incomplete weights is developed to prioritize decision alternatives, which applies the most favorable set of weights to the alternative to be evaluated. In this note, we develop a method for a pessimistic use, thereby applying the least favorable weight set to the evaluated alternative. This development makes possible a more detailed prioritization of competing alternatives, and hence enhances decision-making powers.

This study addresses the question as to whether the option prices have useful predictive information on the direction of stock markets by investigating a forecasting power of volatility curvatures and skewness premiums implicit in S&P 500 index option prices traded in Chicago Board Options Exchange. We begin by estimating implied volatility functions and risk neutral price densities every minute based on non-parametric method and then calculate volatility curvature and skewness premium using them. The rationale is that high volatility curvature or high skewness premium often leads to strong bullish sentiment among market participants. We found that the rate of return on the signal following trading strategy was significantly higher than that on the intraday buy-and-hold strategy, which indicates that the S&P500 index option prices have a strong forecasting power on the direction of stock index market. Another major finding is that the information contents of S&P 500 index option prices disappear within one minute, and so one minute-delayed signal following trading strategy would not lead to any excess return compared to a simple buy-and-hold strategy.

This short article compares different solution methods for a basic RBC model (Hansen, 1985). We solve and simulate the model using two main algorithms: the methods of perturbation and projection, respectively. One novelty is that we offer a type of the hybrid method: we compute easily a second-order approximation to decision rules and use that approximation as an initial guess for finding Chebyshev polynomials. We also find that the second-order perturbation method is most competitive in terms of accuracy for standard RBC model.