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what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 2:29 am
by bmanas
I heard people say when there is no closed form analytical solution, one can use moment matching. I wanted to know how moment matching helps in finding solution to a modelling/pricing problem. Also , what is the maximum number of moments one should match.Any guidance/references would be greatly appreciated.thanks

what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 7:52 am
by manolom
It is nothing else that finding a random variable -much more mathematically tractable, and that approximates the original one in the sense that the first moments of both coincide- as a proxy.

what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 8:57 am
by bmanas
thanks. can you please explain it with an example.

what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 23rd, 2009, 1:43 pm
by manolom
For example, moment matching applied to asian options on arithmetic average, or applied to options on baskets.

what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 24th, 2009, 12:38 am
by bmanas
thanks a lot for such a clear example.

what is Moment Matching

Posted: December 24th, 2009, 3:45 pm
by Aaron
Moment matching is rarely a good approach in finance or statistics, and virtually never a good approach when matching more than two moments.