APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE FOR FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

This article introduces some relevant research works on computational intelligence applied to finance and economics. The objective is to offer an appropriate context and a starting point for those who are new to computational intelligence in finance and economics and to give an overview of the most recent works. A classification with five different main areas is presented. Those areas are related with different applications of the most modern computational intelligence techniques showing a new perspective for approaching finance and economics problems. Each research area is described with several works and applications. Finally, a review of the research works selected for this special issue is given.     

EFFECTS OF A RATIONING RULE ON THE AUSUBEL AUCTION: A GENETIC ALGORITHM IMPLEMENTATION

The increasing use of auctions as a selling mechanism has led to a growing interest in the subject. Thus both auction theory and experimental examinations of these theories are being developed. A recent method used for carrying out examinations on auctions has been the design of computational simulations. The aim of this article is to develop a genetic algorithm to find automatically a bidder optimal strategy while the other players are always bidding sincerely. To this end a specific dynamic multiunit auction has been selected: the Ausubel auction, with private values, dropout information, and with several rationing rules implemented. The method provides the bidding strategy (defined as the action to be taken under different auction conditions) that maximizes the bidder's payoff. The algorithm is tested under several experimental environments that differ in the elasticity of their demand curves, number of bidders and quantity of lots auctioned. The results suggest that the approach leads to strategies that outperform sincere bidding when rationing is needed.     

Early bankruptcy prediction using ENPC

Bankruptcy prediction has long time been an active research field in finance. One of the main approaches to this issue is dealing with it as a classification problem. Among the range of instruments available, we focus our attention on the Evolutionary Nearest Neighbor Classifier (ENPC). In this work we assess the performance of the ENPC comparing it to six alternatives. The results suggest that this algorithm might be considered a good choice.     

The Clock Proxy Auction for Allocating Radio Spectrum Licenses

The combinatorial clock-proxy auction is analyzed as a selling mechanism of a portion of the “digital dividend” in an European country. We assumed bidders with bounded rationality making their bidding decisions based on a system of recommendation that learns from the environment. The auction outcome when all bidders follow the proposed strategies was compared with the efficient outcome of the auction. Although significant differences were found in the seller’s income, no significant variations were found in the distribution of spectrum licenses among bidders.     

Stokes flow for a stokeslet between two parallel flat plates

Summary Velocity and pressure fields for Stokes flow due to a force singularity of arbitrary orientation and arbitrary distance between two parallel plates are found, using the image technique and a Fourier transform. Two alternative expressions for the solution, one in terms of infinite integrals and the other in terms of infinite series, are given. The infinite series solution is especially suitable for computation purposes being an exponentially decreasing series. From the series the far field behaviour is extracted. It is found that a force singularity parallel to the two planes has a far field behaviour of source and image for the parallel components (a two dimensional source doublet of height-dependent strength) whereas the normal component, and all fields due to a force singularity normal to the planes, die out exponentially. Velocity fields are compared with those of the one plane case. An estimate of the influence of the second wall and when its effect can be disregarded is obtained.