Bivariate Sarmanov Phase-Type Distributions for Joint Lifetimes Modeling

In this paper, we are interested in the dependence between lifetimes based on a joint survival model. This model is built using the bivariate Sarmanov distribution with Phase-Type marginal distributions. Capitalizing on these two classes of distributions’ mathematical properties, we drive some useful closed-form expressions of distributions and quantities of interest in the context of multiple-life insurance contracts. The dependence structure that we consider in this paper is based on a general form of kernel function for the Bivariate Sarmanov distribution. The introduction of this new kernel function allows us to improve the attainable correlation range.