Modern Stochastics: Theory and Applications

The time-inhomogeneous autoregressive model AR(1) is studied, which is the process of the form ${X_{n+1}}={\alpha _{n}}{X_{n}}+{\varepsilon _{n}}$, where ${\alpha _{n}}$ are constants, and ${\varepsilon _{n}}$ are independent random variables. Conditions on ${\alpha _{n}}$ and distributions of ${\varepsilon _{n}}$ are established that guarantee the geometric recurrence of the process. This result is applied to estimate the stability of n-steps transition probabilities for two autoregressive processes ${X^{(1)}}$ and ${X^{(2)}}$ assuming that both ${\alpha _{n}^{(i)}}$, $i\in \{1,2\}$, and distributions of ${\varepsilon _{n}^{(i)}}$, $i\in \{1,2\}$, are close enough.

A new class of multidimensional locally perturbed random walks called random walks with sticky barriers is introduced and analyzed. The laws of large numbers and functional limit theorems are proved for hitting times of successive barriers.

The main subject of the study in this paper is the simultaneous renewal time for two time-inhomogeneous Markov chains which start with arbitrary initial distributions. By a simultaneous renewal we mean the first time of joint hitting the specific set C by both processes. Under the condition of existence a dominating sequence for both renewal sequences generated by the chains and non-lattice condition for renewal probabilities an upper bound for the expectation of the simultaneous renewal time is obtained.

The insurance model when the amount of claims depends on the state of the insured person (healthy, ill, or dead) and claims are connected in a Markov chain is investigated. The signed compound Poisson approximation is applied to the aggregate claims distribution after $n\in \mathbb{N}$ periods. The accuracy of order $O({n^{-1}})$ and $O({n^{-1/2}})$ is obtained for the local and uniform norms, respectively. In a particular case, the accuracy of estimates in total variation and non-uniform estimates are shown to be at least of order $O({n^{-1}})$. The characteristic function method is used. The results can be applied to estimate the probable loss of an insurer to optimize an insurance premium.

The effect that weighted summands have on each other in approximations of $S={w_{1}}{S_{1}}+{w_{2}}{S_{2}}+\cdots +{w_{N}}{S_{N}}$ is investigated. Here, ${S_{i}}$’s are sums of integer-valued random variables, and ${w_{i}}$ denote weights, $i=1,\dots ,N$. Two cases are considered: the general case of independent random variables when their closeness is ensured by the matching of factorial moments and the case when the ${S_{i}}$ has the Markov Binomial distribution. The Kolmogorov metric is used to estimate the accuracy of approximation.

In this paper, we consider two time-inhomogeneous Markov chains ${X_{t}^{(l)}}$, $l\in \{1,2\}$, with discrete time on a general state space. We assume the existence of some renewal set C and investigate the time of simultaneous renewal, that is, the first positive time when the chains hit the set C simultaneously. The initial distributions for both chains may be arbitrary. Under the condition of stochastic domination and nonlattice condition for both renewal processes, we derive an upper bound for the expectation of the simultaneous renewal time. Such a bound was calculated for two time-inhomogeneous birth–death Markov chains.