Adaptive control of a continuous-time portfolio and consumption model

In this paper, an adaptive control problem is formulated and solved using Merton's stochastic differential equation for the wealth in a portfolio selection and consumption model. Since the asset prices are assumed to satisfy a log normal distribution, it suffices to consider two assets. It is assumed that the drift parameter for the price of the risky asset is unknown. A recursive family of estimators for this unknown parameter is defined and is shown to converge almost surely to the true value of the parameter. The controls in the equation for the wealth are obtained from the optimal controls where the estimates of the unknown parameter are substituted for the unknown parameter.This research was partially supported by NSF Grant No. ECS-84-03286-A01.The authors wish to thank P. Varaiya for some useful comments on this paper.     

Rate of convergence for an estimator in a portfolio and consumption model

The rate of convergence in a sample path sense is given for a strongly consistent, recursive estimator. This estimator is for the unknown average return rate of the risky asset that is a parameter in a bilinear stochastic differential equation for the wealth in a portfolio selection and consumption model.This research was partially supported by NSF Grant No. ECS-84-03286-A01 and by University of Kansas General Research Allocation No. 3806-XO-0038.     

The participation puzzle with reference-dependent expected utility preferences

Expected utility theory with a smooth utility function predicts that, when allocating wealth between a risky and a riskless asset, investors allocate a positive amount to the risky asset whenever its expected return exceeds the riskless rate of return. A large number of people invest none of their wealth in risky assets, though, leading to the ”participation puzzle.” This paper explores whether the participation puzzle can be addressed when the utility function has a kink at the reference wealth level. It shows that when the reference wealth level is initial wealth increased by the riskless rate of return, there exists a range of expected excess returns for the risky asset for which the investor takes no position. Moreover, this range of expected excess returns is described by comparing a common performance measure of stock returns, the Omega Function, to a function of preference parameters. However, if the reference wealth level is any other constant, the usual expected utility prediction holds and investors allocate at least some of their wealth to the risky asset whenever it has a positive expected excess return.     

On minimizing drawdown risks of lifetime investments

Drawdown measures the decline of portfolio value from its historic high-water mark. In this paper, we study a lifetime investment problem aiming at minimizing the risk of drawdown occurrences. Under the Black–Scholes framework, we examine two financial market models: a market with two risky assets, and a market with a risk-free asset and a risky asset. Closed-form optimal trading strategies are derived under both models by utilizing a decomposition technique on the associated Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation. We show that it is optimal to minimize the portfolio variance when the fund value is at its historic high-water mark. Moreover, when the fund value drops, the proportion of wealth invested in the asset with a higher instantaneous rate of return should be increased. We find that the instantaneous return rate of the minimum lifetime drawdown probability (MLDP) portfolio is never less than the return rate of the minimum variance (MV) portfolio. This supports the practical use of drawdown-based performance measures in which the role of volatility is replaced by drawdown.     

Portfolio selection in discrete time with transaction costs and power utility function: a perturbation analysis

In this article, we study a multi-period portfolio selection model in which a generic class of probability distributions is assumed for the returns of the risky asset. An investor with a power utility function rebalances a portfolio comprising a risk-free and risky asset at the beginning of each time period in order to maximize expected utility of terminal wealth. Trading the risky asset incurs a cost that is proportional to the value of the transaction. At each time period, the optimal investment strategy involves buying or selling the risky asset to reach the boundaries of a certain no-transaction region. In the limit of small transaction costs, dynamic programming and perturbation analysis are applied to obtain explicit approximations to the optimal boundaries and optimal value function of the portfolio at each stage of a multi-period investment process of any length.     

Static portfolio choice under Cumulative Prospect Theory

We derive the optimal portfolio choice for an investor who behaves according to Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). The study is done in a one-period economy with one risk-free asset and one risky asset, and the reference point corresponds to the terminal wealth arising when the entire initial wealth is invested into the risk-free asset. When it exists, the optimal holding is a function of a generalized Omega measure of the distribution of the excess return on the risky asset over the risk-free rate. It conceptually resembles Merton’s optimal holding for a CRRA expected-utility maximizer. We derive some properties of the optimal holding and illustrate our results using a simple example where the excess return has a skew-normal distribution. In particular, we show how a CPT investor is highly sensitive to the skewness of the excess return on the risky asset. In the model we adopt, with a piecewise-power value function with different shape parameters, loss aversion might be violated for reasons that are now well-understood in the literature. Nevertheless, we argue that this violation is acceptable.     

含不动产项目的保险公司再保险-投资策略

站在保险公司管理者的角度, 考虑存在不动产项目投资机会时保险公司的再保险--投资策略问题. 假定保险公司可以投资于不动产项目、风险证券和无风险证券, 并通过比例再保险控制风险, 目标是最小化保险公司破产概率并求得相应最佳策略, 包括: 不动产项目投资时机、 再保险比例以及投资于风险证券的金额. 运用混合随机控制-最优停时方法, 得到最优值函数及最佳策略的显式解. 结果表明, 当且仅当其盈余资金多于某一水平(称为投资阈值)时保险公司投资于不动产项目. 进一步的数值算例分析表明: (a)~不动产项目投资的阈值主要受项目收益率影响而与投资金额无明显关系, 收益率越高则投资阈值越低; (b)~市场环境较好(牛市)时项目的投资阈值降低; 反之, 当市场环境较差(熊市)时投资阈值提高.     

保险公司实业项目投资策略研究

考虑保险公司实业项目投资问题. 假定1)保险公司可以选择在某一时刻投资一实业项目(Real investment), 该项投资可以为保险公司带来稳定的资金收入而不影响其风险;2)保险公司可以将盈余资金投资于证券市场, 该市场包含一风险资产.目标是通过最小化破产概率来确定保险公司实业项目投资时间和风险资产的投资金额.运用混合随机控制-最优停时方法,得到值函数的半显式解, 进而得到保险公司的最佳投资策略: 以固定金额投资证券市场; 当保险公司盈余高于一定额度(称为投资门槛)时进行项目投资, 并降低风险资产投资金额.最后采用数值算例分析了不同市场环境下投资门槛与投资金额, 投资收益率之间的关系. 结果表明:1)项目投资所需金额越少、收益率越高, 则项目投资的门槛越低;2)市场环境较好时(牛市)项目的投资门槛提高, 保险公司应较多的投资于证券市场; 反之, 当市场环境较差时(熊市)投资门槛降低,保险公司倾向于实业项目投资.     

Worst-case portfolio optimization with proportional transaction costs

We study optimal asset allocation in a crash-threatened financial market with proportional transaction costs. The market is assumed to be either in a normal state, in which the risky asset follows a geometric Brownian motion, or in a crash state, in which the price of the risky asset can suddenly drop by a certain relative amount. We only assume the maximum number and the maximum relative size of the crashes to be given and do not make any assumptions about their distributions. For every investment strategy, we identify the worst-case scenario in the sense that the expected utility of terminal wealth is minimized. The objective is then to determine the investment strategy which yields the highest expected utility in its worst-case scenario. We solve the problem for utility functions with constant relative risk aversion using a stochastic control approach. We characterize the value function as the unique viscosity solution of a second-order nonlinear partial differential equation. The optimal strategies are characterized by time-dependent free boundaries which we compute numerically. The numerical examples suggest that it is not optimal to invest any wealth in the risky asset close to the investment horizon, while a long position in the risky asset is optimal if the remaining investment period is sufficiently large.     

The Optimal Interaction between a Hedge Fund Manager and Investor

ABSTRACT

This study explores hedge funds from the perspective of investors and the motivation behind their investments. We model a typical hedge fund contract between an investor and a manager, which includes the manager’s special reward scheme, i.e., partial ownership, incentives and early closure conditions. We present a continuous stochastic control problem for the manager’s wealth on a hedge fund comprising one risky asset and one riskless bond as a basis to calculate the investors’ wealth. Then we derive partial differential equations (PDEs) for each agent and numerically obtain the unique viscosity solution for these problems. Our model shows that the manager’s incentives are very high and therefore investors are not receiving profit compared to a riskless investment. We investigate a new type of hedge fund contract where the investor has the option to deposit additional money to the fund at half maturity time. Results show that investors’ inflow increases proportionally with the expected rate of return of the risky asset, but even in low rates of return, investors inflow money to keep the fund open. Finally, comparing the contracts with and without the option, we spot that investors are sometimes better off without the option to inflow money, thus creating a negative value of the option.     

An optimal investment and consumption model with stochastic returns

We consider a financial market consisting of a risky asset and a riskless one, with a constant or random investment horizon. The interest rate from the riskless asset is constant, but the relative return rate from the risky asset is stochastic with an unknown parameter in its distribution. Following the Bayesian approach, the optimal investment and consumption problem is formulated as a Markov decision process. We incorporate the concept of risk aversion into the model and characterize the optimal strategies for both the power and logarithmic utility functions with a constant relative risk aversion (CRRA). Numerical examples are provided that support the intuition that a higher proportion of investment should be allocated to the risky asset if the mean return rate on the risky asset is higher or the risky asset return rate is less volatile. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal Mean-Variance Investment-Reinsurance Strategy for a Dependent Risk Model with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Process

In this paper, we investigate the optimal investment-reinsurance strategy for an insurer with two dependent classes of insurance business, where the claim number processes are correlated through a common shock. It is assumed that the insurer can invest her wealth into one risk-free asset and multiple risky assets, and meanwhile, the instantaneous rates of investment return are stochastic and follow mean-reverting processes. Based on the theory of linear-quadratic control, we adopt a backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) approach to solve the mean-variance optimization problem. Explicit expressions for both the efficient strategy and efficient frontier are derived. Finally, numerical examples are presented to illustrate our results.

     

基于矩分析的资产组合选择

在风险资产收益分布为非正态的情景下,通过矩分析,研究其收益的高阶矩对资产组合选择的影响.首先,假设风险资产收益存在有限阶矩,泰勒展开边际财富期望效用,获得静态资产组合选择的近似解;其次,假设收益过程的跳跃产生收益分布的非正态性,运用随机控制方法获得动态资产组合选择的近似解析解,从高阶矩角度解释其特征。分析表明,超出峰度的存在导致减少风险资产投资,正(负)的偏度导致增加(减少)风险资产投资,该影响性随着它们及风险规避系数的增大而增强;可预测性导致资产组合存在正或负的对冲需求,取决于相关系数的符号和风险规避系数;跳跃性总体上减少风险资产投资;可预测性和跳跃性对动态资产组合选择的影响具有内在关联性。     

Valuation of variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under stochastic interest rate

This paper develops an efficient direct integration method for pricing of the variable annuity (VA) with guarantees in the case of stochastic interest rate. In particular, we focus on pricing VA with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit (GMWB) that promises to return the entire initial investment through withdrawals and the remaining account balance at maturity. Under the optimal (dynamic) withdrawal strategy of a policyholder, GMWB pricing becomes an optimal stochastic control problem that can be solved using backward recursion Bellman equation. Optimal decision becomes a function of not only the underlying asset but also interest rate. Presently our method is applied to the Vasicek interest rate model, but it is applicable to any model when transition density of the underlying asset and interest rate is known in closed-form or can be evaluated efficiently. Using bond price as a numéraire the required expectations in the backward recursion are reduced to two-dimensional integrals calculated through a high order Gauss–Hermite quadrature applied on a two-dimensional cubic spline interpolation. The quadrature is applied after a rotational transformation to the variables corresponding to the principal axes of the bivariate transition density, which empirically was observed to be more accurate than the use of Cholesky transformation. Numerical comparison demonstrates that the new algorithm is significantly faster than the partial differential equation or Monte Carlo methods. For pricing of GMWB with dynamic withdrawal strategy, we found that for positive correlation between the underlying asset and interest rate, the GMWB price under the stochastic interest rate is significantly higher compared to the case of deterministic interest rate, while for negative correlation the difference is less but still significant. In the case of GMWB with predefined (static) withdrawal strategy, for negative correlation, the difference in prices between stochastic and deterministic interest rate cases is not material while for positive correlation the difference is still significant. The algorithm can be easily adapted to solve similar stochastic control problems with two stochastic variables possibly affected by control. Application to numerical pricing of Asian, barrier and other financial derivatives with a single risky asset under stochastic interest rate is also straightforward.     

Optimal investment consumption model with a higher interest rate for borrowing

This paper considers a consumption and investment decision problem with a higher interest rate for borrowing as well as the dividend rate. Wealth is divided into a riskless asset and risky asset with logrithmic Erownian motion price fluctuations. The stochastic control problem of maximizating expected utility from terminal wealth and consumption is studied. Equivalent conditions for optimality are obtained. By using duality methods ,the existence of optimal portfolio consumption is proved,and the explicit solutions leading to feedback formulae are derived for deteministic coefficients.     

Wealth optimization and dual problems for jump stock dynamics with stochastic factor

An incomplete financial market is considered with a risky asset and a bond. The risky asset price is a pure jump process whose dynamics depends on a jump-diffusion stochastic factor describing the activity of other markets, macroeconomics factors or microstructure rules that drive the market. With a stochastic control approach, maximization of the expected utility of terminal wealth is discussed for utility functions of constant relative risk aversion type. Under suitable assumptions, closed form solutions for the value functions and for the optimal strategy are provided and verification results are discussed. Moreover, the solution to the dual problems associated with the utility maximization problems is derived.     

基于股票价格随机脉冲模型的保险人再保险和投资的最优动态组合选择

本文假设保险人可以进行再保险,并且允许其在金融市场中将资产投资于风险资产和无风险资产,其中风险资产价格采用随机脉冲模型来刻画.当目标是最大化在某一确定终止时刻所拥有财富的二次效用函数期望时,分别得到了超额损失再保险和比例再保险情况下保险人的再保险和投资最优动态选择的显式解和闭解.利用得到的显式解,考虑了金融风险和保险风险之间相关性对最优动态选择的影响,做了相关数值计算.     

跳扩散模型下的非零和随机微分投资组合博弈

现实经济中,当股票价格受到一些重大信息影响而发生突发性的跳跃时,用跳扩散过程来描述股票价格的趋势更符合实际情况。基于这一观察,本文研究跳扩散模型下包含两个投资者的非零和投资组合博弈问题。假设金融市场中包含一种无风险资产和一种风险资产,其中风险资产的价格动态用跳扩散模型来描述。将该非零和博弈问题构造成两个效用最大化问题,每个投资者的目标是最大化终端时刻自身财富与其竞争对手财富差的均值-方差效用。运用随机控制理论,得到了均衡投资策略以及相应值函数的解析表达。最后通过数值仿真算例分析了模型相关参数变动对均衡投资策略的影响。仿真结果显示:当股价发生不连续跳跃,投资者在构造投资策略时考虑跳跃风险可以显著增加其效用水平;同时,随着博弈竞争的加剧,投资者为了在竞争中取得更好的表现,往往会采取更加激进的投资策略,增加对风险资产的投资。     

Optimal proportional reinsurance and investment based on Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation

In the whole paper, the claim process is assumed to follow a Brownian motion with drift and the insurer is allowed to invest in a risk-free asset and a risky asset. In addition, the insurer can purchase the proportional reinsurance to reduce the risk. The paper concerns the optimal problem of maximizing the utility of terminal wealth. By solving the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations, the optimal strategies about how to purchase the proportional reinsurance and how to invest in the risk-free asset and risky asset are derived respectively.