VaR: The state of play

In: Review of financial economics: RFE, Volume 11, Issue 3, p. 175-189

Abstract

AbstractSince "Value at Risk" (VaR) received its first wide introduction in the July 1993 Group of Thirty report, the number of users of—and uses for—VaR have increased dramatically. However, VaR itself has been evolving. In this article, we will first review some of the important refinements in VaR that have appeared—improved speed of computation, improved accuracy, and improved stress testing. We then look at the "next steps" (which we refer to as "Beyond VaR"), in which we review extensions to standard VaR, the emergence of "risk contribution" measures, and alternatives to standard VaR (including Extreme Value Theory [EVT] and Coherent Risk Measures).