Classical and singular stochastic control for the optimal dividend policy when there is regime switching

Motivated by economic and empirical arguments, we consider a company whose cash surplus is affected by macroeconomic conditions. Specifically, we model the cash surplus as a Brownian motion with drift and volatility modulated by an observable continuous-time Markov chain that represents the regime of the economy. The objective of the management is to select the dividend policy that maximizes the expected total discounted dividend payments to be received by the shareholders. We study two different cases: bounded dividend rates and unbounded dividend rates. These cases generate, respectively, problems of classical stochastic control with regime switching and singular stochastic control with regime switching. We solve these problems, and obtain the first analytical solutions for the optimal dividend policy in the presence of business cycles. We prove that the optimal dividend policy depends strongly on macroeconomic conditions.     

Stochastic impulse control with regime switching for the optimal dividend policy when there are business cycles,taxes and fixed costs

We consider the problem of finding the optimal dividend policy for a company whose cash reserve follows a Brownian motion with drift and volatility modulated by an observable finite-state continuous-time Markov chain. The Markov chain represents the regime of the economy. We allow fixed costs and taxes associated with the dividend payments. This optimization problem generates a stochastic impulse control problem with regime switching. We solve this problem and obtain the first analytical solutions for the optimal dividend policy when there are simultaneously fixed costs, taxes and business cycles. Our results show that the optimal dividend policy depends strongly on the regime of the economy, on fixed costs and on taxes.     

Optimizing venture capital investments in a jump diffusion model

We study two practical optimization problems in relation to venture capital investments and/or Research and Development (R&D) investments. In the first problem, given the amount of the initial investment and the cash flow structure at the initial public offering (IPO), the venture capitalist wants to maximize overall discounted cash flows after subtracting subsequent investments, which keep the invested company solvent. We describe this problem as a mixture of singular stochastic control and optimal stopping problems. The second problem is concerned with optimal dividend policy. Rather than selling the company at an IPO, the investor may want to harvest technological achievements in the form of dividend when it is appropriate. The optimal control policy in this problem is a mixture of singular and impulse controls. E. Bayraktar was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, under grant DMS-0604491.     

控股股东对上市公司股利分配倾向的影响及实证分析——来自沪市A股上市公司的经验证据

当前对股利政策的研究主要集中在产权对股利政策的影响、自由现金流对股利政策的影响、公司过渡投资行为对股利政策的影响以及宏观经济波动对股利政策的影响等,而缺乏控股股东对股利政策的影响研究.现实中,控股股东对股利政策具有较大的影响,围绕控股股东对上市公司股利分配倾向的影响进行深入分析.具体而言,以2013-2014年度上证A股数据,建立Log斌ic模型和多元线性回归模型分析控股股东的几方面特征对股利分配倾向产生的多种影响.研究从理论上客观地评价了控股股东对股利分配倾向的影响,现实中对维护中小股东权益有重要意义.     

具有常量红利界的带干扰项的风险模型及最优红利界

对于保险公司来说,如何确定其红利策略,使得投保人利益最大化是一个需要研究的课题.研究了具有常量红利界的带干扰项的经典风险模型下,索赔量为混合指数分布情形时的最优红利界的计算方法.     

The optimal policy for insurance company under consideration of internal competition and the time value of ruin

This paper considers the dividend optimization problem for an insurance company under the consideration of internal competition between different units inside the company. The objective is to find a reinsurance policy and a dividend payment scheme so as to maximize the expected discounted value of the dividend payment, and the expected present value of an amount which the insurer earns until the time of ruin. By solving the corresponding constrained Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman （HJB） equation, we obtain the value function and the optimal reinsurance policy and dividend payment.     

Optimal control of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy under solvency constraints

This paper considers the optimal control problem of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy under solvency constraints. The management of the company controls the reinsurance rate and dividends payout processes to maximize the expected present value of the dividend until the time of bankruptcy. This is a mixed singular-regular control problem. However, the optimal dividend payout barrier may be too low to be acceptable. The company may be prohibited to pay dividend according to external reasons because this low dividend payout barrier will result in bankruptcy soon. Therefore, some constraints on the insurance company’s dividend policy will be imposed. One reasonable and normal constraint is that if b is the minimum dividend barrier, then the bankrupt probability should not be larger than some predetermined ε within the time horizon T. This paper is to work out the optimal control policy of the insurance company under the solvency constraints.     

The optimal strategy for insurance company under the influence of terminal value

This paper considers a model of an insurance company which is allowed to invest a risky asset and to purchase proportional reinsurance. The objective is to find the policy which maximizes the expected total discounted dividend pay-out until the time of bankruptcy and the terminal value of the company under liquidity constraint. We find the solution of this problem via solving the problem with zero terminal value. We also analyze the influence of terminal value on the optimal policy.     

Optimal control of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy under solvency constraints

This paper considers the optimal control problem of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy under solvency constraints. The management of the company controls the reinsurance rate and dividends payout processes to maximize the expected present value of the dividend until the time of bankruptcy. This is a mixed singular-regular control problem. However, the optimal dividend payout barrier may be too low to be acceptable. The company may be prohibited to pay dividend according to external reasons because this low dividend payout barrier will result in bankruptcy soon. Therefore, some constraints on the insurance company’s dividend policy will be imposed. One reasonable and normal constraint is that if $b$ is the minimum dividend barrier, then the bankrupt probability should not be larger than some predetermined $\epsilon$ within the time horizon $T$. This paper is to work out the optimal control policy of the insurance company under the solvency constraints.     

一类具有新红利界限的Erlang(2)风险模型

考虑到保险公司的实际运作中红利的发放率要比保费的收取率小,将一类新的红利政策引入Erlang(2)风险模型,利用更新论证,得到并求解了此模型下罚金折现期望函数所满足的微积分方程.最后通过数值例子,分析了红利界限与初始盈余对破产概率的影响.     

Optimal control of a big financial company with debt liability under bankrupt probability constraints

This paper considers an optimal control of a big financial company with debt liability under bankrupt probability constraints. The company, which faces constant liability payments and has choices to choose various production/business policies from an available set of control policies with different expected profits and risks, controls the business policy and dividend payout process to maximize the expected present value of the dividends until the time of bankruptcy. However, if the dividend payout barrier is too low to be acceptable, it may result in the company’s bankruptcy soon. In order to protect the shareholders’ profits, the managements of the company impose a reasonable and normal constraint on their dividend strategy, that is, the bankrupt probability associated with the optimal dividend payout barrier should be smaller than a given risk level within a fixed time horizon. This paper aims at working out the optimal control policy as well as optimal return function for the company under bankrupt probability constraint by stochastic analysis, partial differential equation and variational inequality approach. Moreover, we establish a riskbased capital standard to ensure the capital requirement can cover the total given risk by numerical analysis, and give reasonable economic interpretation for the results.     

Optimal payout policy in presence of downside risk

We analyze the determination of a value maximizing dividend payout policy for a broad class of cash reserve processes modeled as spectrally negative jump diffusions. We extend previous results based on continuous diffusion models and characterize the value of the optimal dividend distribution strategy explicitly. We also characterize explicitly the values as well as the optimal dividend thresholds for a class of associated optimal liquidation and sequential lump sum dividend control problems. Our results indicate that both the value as well as the marginal value of the optimal policies are increasing functions of policy flexibility in the discontinuous setting as well.      

Complete discounted cash flow valuation

This paper concerns discounted cash flow valuation of a company. When the company is in trouble, the owners have an option to provide it with a new capital; otherwise it is liquidated. In the absence of capital outflows and inflows, the company’s own funds are modelled by a spectrally negative Lévy process. Within this framework, we look for a strategy of dividend payments and capital injections which maximizes the firm’s value. We provide an optimal strategy as well as the corresponding valuation formula. Illustrative examples are given.     

Optimal Liquidity management and Hedging in the presence of a non-predictable investment opportunity

In this paper, we develop a dynamic model that captures the interaction between a firm’s cash reserves, the risk management policy and the profitability of a non-predictable irreversible investment opportunity. We consider a firm that has assets in place generating a stochastic cash-flow stream. The firm has a non-predictable growth opportunity to expand its operation size by paying a sunk cost. When the opportunity is available, the firm can finance it either by cash or by costly equity issuance. We provide an explicit characterization of the firm strategy in terms of investment, hedging, equity issuance and dividend distribution.     

Optimal dividends in the Brownian motion risk model with interest

In this paper, we consider a Brownian motion risk model, and in addition, the surplus earns investment income at a constant force of interest. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividend payments. It is well known that optimality is achieved by using a barrier strategy for unrestricted dividend rate. However, ultimate ruin of the company is certain if a barrier strategy is applied. In many circumstances this is not desirable. This consideration leads us to impose a restriction on the dividend stream. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategies whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. Under this additional constraint, we show that the optimal dividend strategy is formed by a threshold strategy.     

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For a financial or insurance entity, the problem of finding the optimal dividend distribution strategy and optimal firm value function is a widely discussed topic. In the present paper, it is assumed that the firm faces two types of liquidity risks: a Brownian risk and a Poisson risk. The firm can control the time and amount of dividends paid out to shareholders. By sufficiently taking into account the safety of the company, bankruptcy is said to take place at time $t$ if the cash reserve of the firm runs below the linear barrier b+kt (not zero), see 1. We deal with the problem of maximizing the expected total discounted dividends paid out until bankruptcy. The optimal dividend return (or, firm value) function is identified as the classical solution of the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation where a second-order differential-integro equation is involved. By solving the corresponding HJB equation, the analytical solution of the optimal firm value function is obtained, the optimal dividend strategy is also characterized, which is of linear barrier type: at time t the firm keeps cash inside when the cash reserves level is less than a critical linear barrier and pays cash in excess of this linear barrier as dividends.     

Management of a pension fund under mortality and financial risks

The purpose of this article is to analyze the dividend policy and the asset allocation of a pension fund. We consider a financial market composed of three assets: cash, stocks and a rolling bond. Interest rates are driven by Vasicek’s model whereas the mortality of the insured population is modelled by a Poisson process. We determine investment and dividend policies maximizing the utility of dividends and of terminal surplus under a budget constraint. In particular, solutions are developed for CRRA and CARA utility functions. The methodology is based both on the Cox and Huang’s approach and on the dynamic programming principle.     

Alternative approach to the optimality of the threshold strategy for spectrally negative Lévy processes

Consider the optimal dividend problem for an insurance company whose uncontrolled surplus precess evolves as a spectrally negative Levy process. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategies whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividends which are paid to the shareholders until the company is ruined. In this paper, we show that a threshold strategy （also called refraction strategy） forms an optimal strategy under the condition that the Levy measure has a completely monotone density.     

Optimal risk control and dividend policies under excess of loss reinsurance

We study the optimal reinsurance policy and dividend distribution of an insurance company under excess of loss reinsurance. The objective of the insurer is to maximize the expected discounted dividends. We suppose that in the absence of dividend distribution, the reserve process of the insurance company follows a compound Poisson process. We first prove existence and uniqueness results for this optimization problem by using singular stochastic control methods and the theory of viscosity solutions. We then compute the optimal strategy of reinsurance, the optimal dividend strategy and the value function by solving the associated integro-differential Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman Variational Inequality numerically.