Solstice is a flexible open source economic network simulator. Its primary outcomes are quantitative analyses of the behavior of economic systems under uncertainty. In this post we provide a first overall description of Solstice to accompany the first public release.
Modeling economic networks and their dynamics. Economic networks are the primary abstractions though which we can conceptualize the state (condition) and evolution of economic interactions. This simply reflects the fact that human economies are quite fundamentally systems of interacting actors (or nodes in a network) with transient or more permanent relations between them.
In practice the network character of an economy is frequently suppressed or under-emphasized and does not play a particularly important role.
Limit frameworks are fundamental tools for risk management: A Limit Framework is a set of policies used by financial institutions (or other firms that actively assume quantifiable risks) to govern in a quantitative manner the maximum risk exposure permitted for an individual, trading desk, business line etc.
Why do we need limit frameworks? A limit framework is expressing in concrete terms the Risk Appetite of an institution to assume certain risks.
Release of version 0.4 of the Concentration Library adds Geographic / Industrial concentration indexes: Further building out the OpenCPM set of tools, we release version 0.4 of the Concentration Library, a python library for the computation of various concentration, diversification and inequality indices.
The below list provides documentation URL’s for each one of the implemented classic indexes (the Hoover index is a new addition in this release
Atkinson Index Hoover Index Concentration Ratio Berger-Parker Index Herfindahl-Hirschman Index Hannah-Kay Index Gini Index Theil Index Shannon Index Generalized Entropy Index Kolm Index An important new direction that appears first in this release is the introduction of indexes that measure geographical and industrial concentration.
Release of version 0.3 of the Concentration Library: Further building out the OpenCPM set of tools, we release version 0.3 of the Concentration Library. This python library for the computation of various concentration, diversification and inequality indices.
The below list provides documentation URL’s for each one of the implemented indexes
Atkinson Index Concentration Ratio Berger-Parker Index Herfindahl-Hirschman Index Hannah-Kay Index Gini Index Theil Index Shannon Index Generalized Entropy Index Kolm Index The image illustrates a simple use of the library where the HHI and Gini indexes are computed and compared for a range of randomly generated portfolio exposures.
Revisiting simple concentration indexes:
Our white paper Revisiting simple concentration indexes reviews the definitions of widely used concentration metrics such as the concentration ratio, the HHI index and the Gini and clarify their meaning and relationships.
This new analytic framework helps clarify the apparent arbitrariness of simple concentration indexes and brings to the fore the underlying unifying concept behind these metrics, thereby enabling their more informed use in portfolio and risk management applications.
Concentrating on Concentration Risk: Senior economists such as Ben Bernanke were still studying the Great 30s Depression when the financial crisis struck in full force circa 2007. Given the complexity of the modern economic and financial landscape compared to the blessed good old days - we have no reports of FWMD (financial weapons of mass destruction) from back then - we can reasonably project that economists will be studying and pontificating on causes and remedies for the current crisis for the next 100 years or so
FuriousBanker(TM) helps you learn risk management concepts in a fun and engaging way. This educational game series for mobiles and tablets is developed by Open Risk to enable modern interactive elearning for people working (or aspiring to work) in financial risk management.
The first episode sees FuriousBanker facing The credit detox challenge:
Game instructions for FuriousBanker:
You Objective: You inherited a pretty toxic credit portfolio and your objective is to reduce the concentration, even while improving your profitability.
As part of the public beta testing programme, two new Open Risk Academy courses are accessible absolutely free (and with no strings attached :-).
The courses are introductions to measuring credit name or sector concentrations in credit portfolios. They cover the following topics:
The concept of credit name or sector concentration - what it is and how it can be measured
The regulatory context and how the issue is covered by requirements and regulatory guidance
The rationale for continuing with internal capital models in the Basel 3 world: Overview of the challenges and opportunities offered by internal capital models (economic capital models) in the post-crisis era. Conference Presentation given at:
Venue: 2nd Annual Capital Modelling under Basel III (Marcus Evans Conference) Location: London Time: January 28th 2014 Link to presentation: Local file
We just added a new course at the Open Risk Academy! The course covers name concentration risk measurement, chiefly the construction of suitable metrics based on portfolio data (Free registration is required for this course)
The first batch of open source tools for credit portfolio calculations is now available here and focus on standardized name concentration measurement (concentrationMetrics)
