Distributions with given Marginals and Moment Problems

The last decade has seen a remarkable development of the "e;Marginal and Moment Problems"e; as a research area in Probability and Statistics. Its attractiveness stemmed from its lasting ability to provide a researcher with difficult theoretical problems that have direct consequences for appli- cations outside of mathematics. The relevant research aims centered mainly along the following lines that very frequently met each other to provide sur- prizing and useful results : -To construct a probability distribution (to prove its existence, at least) with a given support and with some additional inner stochastic property defined typically either by moments or by marginal distributions. -To study the geometrical and topological structure of the set of prob- ability distributions generated by such a property mostly with the aim to propose a procedure that would result in a stochastic model with some optimal properties within the set of probability distributions. These research aims characterize also, though only very generally, the scientific program of the 1996 conference "e;Distributions with given marginals and moment problems"e; held at the beginning of September in Prague, Czech Republic, to perpetuate the tradition and achievements of the closely related 1990 Roma symposium "e;On Frechet Classes"e; 1 and 1993 Seattle"e; AMS Summer Conference on Marginal Problem"e;.