On distributions with fixed marginals maximizing the joint or the prior default probability, estimation, and related results

We study the problem of maximizing the probability that (i) an electric component or financial institution does not default before another component or institution and (ii) that and default jointly within the class of all random variables with given univariate continuous distribution functions and , respectively, and show that the maximization problems correspond to finding copulas maximizing the mass of the endograph and the graph of , respectively. After providing simple, copula-based proofs for the existence of copulas attaining the two maxima and we generalize the obtained results to the case of general (not necessarily monotonic) transformations and derive simple and easily calculable formulas for and involving the distribution function of (interpreted as random variable on ). The latter are then used to charac\-terize all non-decreasing transformations for which and coincide. A strongly consistent estimator for the maximum probability that does not default before is derived and proven to be asymptotically normal under very mild regularity conditions. Several examples and graphics illustrate the main results and falsify some seemingly natural conjectures.
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