Abstract
A well known result by Embrechts and Veraverbeke [3] says that, for subexponential distribution functions F(x), the tail of the compound sum distribution function \(\Sigma _{n = 1}^\infty p_n F^{n*} (x)\) is approximated by \((1 - F(x))\Sigma _{n = 1}^\infty np_n \) as x → ∞. We show that the rate of convergence in this result can be arbitrarily slow. On the other hand, if F satisfies some smoothness condition (for example if F is an integrated tail distribution function) then the rate cannot be worse than O(x-1).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bingham, N.H., Goldie, C.M., and Teugels, J.L., Regular Variation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987.
Embrechts, P., Klüppelberg, C., and Mikosch, T., Modelling Extremal Events for Insurance and Finance, Springer, Berlin, 1997.
Embrechts, P. and Veraverbeke, N., “Estimates for the probability of ruin with special emphasis on the possibility of large claims,” Insurance: Math. Econom. 1, 55–72, (1982).
Feller, W., “One-sided analogues of Karamata's regular variation,” Enseign. Math. 15, 107–121, (1969).
Goldie, C.M., “Implicit renewal theory and tails of solutions of random equations,” Ann. Appl. Probab. 1, 126–166, (1991).
Grandell, J., Mixed Poisson Processes, Chapman and Hall, London, 1997.
Kalashnikov, V.V., Geometric Sums: Bounds for Rare Events with Applications, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997.
Mikosch, T. and Nagaev, A.V., “Large deviations of heavy-tailed sums with applications in insurance,” Extremes 1, 81–110, (1998).
Pitman, E.J.G., “Subexponential distribution functions,” J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser. A 29, 337–347, (1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mikosch, T., Nagaev, A. Rates in Approximations to Ruin Probabilities for Heavy-Tailed Distributions. Extremes 4, 67–78 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012237524316
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012237524316