Entropy and Uncertainty Analysis in Financial Markets

The investor is interested in the expected return and he is also concerned about the risk and the uncertainty assumed by the investment. One of the most popular concepts used to measure the risk and the uncertainty is the variance and/or the standard-deviation. In this paper we explore the following issues: Is the standard-deviation a good measure of risk and uncertainty? What are the potentialities of the entropy in this context? Can entropy present some advantages as a measure of uncertainty and simultaneously verify some basic assumptions of the portfolio management theory, namely the effect of diversification?