Properties of portfolios: risk 26
We quantify risk in terms of statisti
cal measures, conventionally this is
done using the
variance / standard deviation (volatility)
Variance of a random variable
Covariance and correlation of two random variables
Variance of a weighted sum
]²
[
²]
[
])²]
[
[(
]
[
2
Y E Y E Y E Y E Y V Y
− = − = = σ
Single-period random cash flows: Mean-variance portfolio theory
] [ ] [ ] [
])]
[
])(
[
[(
]
cov[
X
E
Y
E
YX
E X E X Y E Y E
YX
yx
− = − − = = σ
[]
]
cov[
2
]
[
]
[
2
2
2
YX
ab
X V b Y V a
bX
aY
V
bX
aY
+ + = + = + σ
1
1
,
,
,
,
≤
≤
−
=
X
Y
X
Y
X
Y
X
Y
ρ
σ
σ σ
ρ