Phoebe Koundouri

Aggregational Gaussianity and barely infinite variance in financial returns

This paper aims at reconciling two apparently contradictory empirical regularities of financial returns, namely, the fact that the empirical distribution of returns tends to normality as the frequency of observation decreases (aggregational Gaussianity) combined with the fact that the conditional variance of high frequency returns seems to have a (fractional) unit root, in which case the unconditional variance is infinite. We provide evidence that aggregational Gaussianity and infinite variance can coexist, provided that all the moments of the unconditional distribution whose order is less than two exist. The latter characterizes the case of Integrated and Fractionally Integrated GARCH processes. Finally, we discuss testing for aggregational Gaussianity under barely infinite variance. Our empirical motivation derives from commodity prices and stock indices, while our results are relevant for financial returns in general.

A Socio-Economic Framework for Integrating Multi-Use Offshore Platforms in Sustainable Blue Growth Management: Theory and Applications

More than 70 percent of the earthAƒÂ¢A¯Â?½A¯Â?½s surface is covered by oceans and seas, much of which is either underexplored or unexplored for the time being. Our seas and oceans offer a vast renewable energy resource and production possibilities with great potential for innovation and growth contributing to the welfare of the human beings. The European Union (EU) supports the implementation of Blue Growth Strategy1 and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; Directive 2008/56/EU, European Commission 2008), which aim to boost growth in marine-related socio-economic activities ensuring the good environmental status of marine waters and applies the Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP; Directive 2014/89/EU, European Commission 2014),2 which requires its member states to develop plans to better coordinate the various marine activities, with regard to environmental efficiency and sustainable development. The Multi-Use Offshore Platforms (MUOPs) are proposed as the means to accomplish efficient use of marine space and they are supported from the EU through marine initiatives and directives. In this chapter we present a tool for assessing the implementation feasibility of MUOPs.