Variance comparison for compound portfolio approximations
ID: variance-comparison-for-compound-portfolio-approximations
Put , , and . A compound Poisson distribution with count mean and severity law has variance . A compound binomial distribution with trials, probability , and that same severity law has variance . The individual-policy variance is . The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives , proving the ordering. Equality of the first two variances requires constant ; it need not imply equality of the distributions. If all probabilities and severity laws are identical, the binomial compound approximation is exactly the individual model.
New to topics? Read the docs here!