Stochastic Order and Generalized Weighted Mean Invariance

In this paper, we present order invariance theoretical results for weighted quasi-arithmetic means of a monotonic series of numbers. The quasi-arithmetic mean, or Kolmogorov–Nagumo mean, generalizes the classical mean and appears in many disciplines, from information theory to physics, from economics to traffic flow. Stochastic orders are defined on weights (or equivalently, discrete probability distributions). They were introduced to study risk in economics and decision theory, and recently have found utility in Monte Carlo techniques and in image processing. We show in this paper that, if two distributions of weights are ordered under first stochastic order, then for any monotonic series of numbers their weighted quasi-arithmetic means share the same order. This means for instance that arithmetic and harmonic mean for two different distributions of weights always have to be aligned if the weights are stochastically ordered, this is, either both means increase or both decrease. We explore the invariance properties when convex (concave) functions define both the quasi-arithmetic mean and the series of numbers, we show its relationship with increasing concave order and increasing convex order, and we observe the important role played by a new defined mirror property of stochastic orders. We also give some applications to entropy and cross-entropy and present an example of multiple importance sampling Monte Carlo technique that illustrates the usefulness and transversality of our approach. Invariance theorems are useful when a system is represented by a set of quasi-arithmetic means and we want to change the distribution of weights so that all means evolve in the same direction.

On the Increasing Convex Order of Relative Spacings of Order Statistics

Relative spacings are relative differences between order statistics. In this context, we extend previous results concerning the increasing convex order of relative spacings of two distributions from the case of consecutive spacings to general spacings. The sufficient conditions are given in terms of the expected proportional shortfall order. As an application, we compare relative deprivation within some parametric families of income distributions.

Stochastic dominance relations for generalised parametric distributions obtained through composition

Investigating stochastic dominance within flexible multi-parametric families of distributions is often complicated, owing to the high number of parameters or non-closed functional forms. To simplify the problem, we use the T–X method, making it possible to obtain generalised models through the composition of cumulative distributions and quantile functions. We derive conditions for the second-order stochastic dominance and for the increasing convex order within multi-parametric families in two steps, namely: (i) breaking them down via the T–X approach and (ii) checking dominance conditions of the (more) manageable distributions composing the model. We apply our method to some special distributions and focus on the beta-generated family, which enables the comparisons of order statistics of i.i.d. samples from (possibly) different random variables.

On Partial Stochastic Comparisons Based on Tail Values at Risk

The tail value at risk at level p, with p ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) , is a risk measure that captures the tail risk of losses and asset return distributions beyond the p quantile. Given two distributions, it can be used to decide which is riskier. When the tail values at risk of both distributions agree, whenever the probability level p ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) , about which of them is riskier, then the distributions are ordered in terms of the increasing convex order. The price to pay for such a unanimous agreement is that it is possible that two distributions cannot be compared despite our intuition that one is less risky than the other. In this paper, we introduce a family of stochastic orders, indexed by confidence levels p 0 ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) , that require agreement of tail values at risk only for levels p > p 0 . We study its main properties and compare it with other families of stochastic orders that have been proposed in the literature to compare tail risks. We illustrate the results with a real data example.

On stochastic comparisons of k-out-of-n systems with Weibull components

In this paper we prove that a parallel system consisting of Weibull components with different scale parameters ages faster than a parallel system comprising Weibull components with equal scale parameters in the convex transform order when the lifetimes of components of both systems have different shape parameters satisfying some restriction. Moreover, while comparing these two systems, we show that the dispersive and the usual stochastic orders, and the right-spread order and the increasing convex order are equivalent. Further, some of the known results in the literature concerning comparisons of k-out-of-n systems in the exponential model are extended to the Weibull model. We also provide solutions to two open problems mentioned by Balakrishnan and Zhao (2013) and Zhao et al. (2016).

Increasing convex order on generalized aggregation of SAI random variables with applications

In this paper we study general aggregation of stochastic arrangement increasing random variables, including both the generalized linear combination and the standard aggregation as special cases. In terms of monotonicity, supermodularity, and convexity of the kernel function, we develop several sufficient conditions for the increasing convex order on the generalized aggregations. Some applications in reliability and risks are also presented.

Stochastic comparisons of interfailure times under a relevation replacement policy

We provide some results for the comparison of the failure times and interfailure times of two systems based on a replacement policy proposed by Kapodistria and Psarrakos (2012). In particular, we show that when the first failure times are ordered in terms of the dispersive order (or, the excess wealth order), then the successive interfailure times are ordered in terms of the usual stochastic order (respectively, the increasing convex order). As a consequence, we provide comparison results for the cumulative residual entropies of the systems and their dynamic versions.