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.     

Robust portfolio choice with CVaR and VaR under distribution and mean return ambiguity

We consider the problem of optimal portfolio choice using the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) and Value-at-Risk (VaR) measures for a market consisting of n risky assets and a riskless asset and where short positions are allowed. When the distribution of returns of risky assets is unknown but the mean return vector and variance/covariance matrix of the risky assets are fixed, we derive the distributionally robust portfolio rules. Then, we address uncertainty (ambiguity) in the mean return vector in addition to distribution ambiguity, and derive the optimal portfolio rules when the uncertainty in the return vector is modeled via an ellipsoidal uncertainty set. In the presence of a riskless asset, the robust CVaR and VaR measures, coupled with a minimum mean return constraint, yield simple, mean-variance efficient optimal portfolio rules. In a market without the riskless asset, we obtain a closed-form portfolio rule that generalizes earlier results, without a minimum mean return restriction.     

基于随机基准的最优投资组合选择问题研究

本文研究基于随机基准的最优投资组合选择问题.假设投资者可以投资于一种无风险资产和一种风险股票,并且选择某一基准作为目标.基准是随机的,并且与风险股票相关.投资者选择最优的投资组合策略使得终端期望绝对财富和基于基准的相对财富效用最大.首先,利用动态规划原理建立相应的HJB方程,并在幂效用函数下,得到最优投资组合策略和值函数的显示表达式.然后,分析相对业绩对投资者最优投资组合策略和值函数的影响.最后,通过数值计算给出了最优投资组合策略和效用损益与模型主要参数之间的关系.     

Asset allocation with distorted beliefs and transaction costs

In this paper we study the problem of the optimal portfolio selection with transaction costs for a decision-maker who is faced with Knightian uncertainty. The decision-maker’s portfolio consists of one risky and one risk-free asset, and we assume that the transaction costs are proportional to the traded volume of the risky asset. The attitude to uncertainty is modeled by the Choquet expected utility. We derive optimal strategies and bounds of the no-transaction region for both optimistic and pessimistic decision-makers. The no-transaction region of a pessimistic investor is narrower and its bounds lie closer to the origin than that of an optimistic trader. Moreover, under the Choquet expected utility the structure of the no-transaction region is not necessarily a closed interval as it is under the standard expected utility model.     

Multi‐asset portfolio optimization with transaction cost

The inclusion of transaction costs in the optimal portfolio selection and consumption rule problem is accomplished via the use of perturbation analyses. The portfolio under consideration consists of more than one risky asset, which makes numerical methods impractical. The objective is to establish both the transaction and the no‐transaction regions that characterize the optimal investment strategy. The optimal transaction boundaries for two and three risky assets portfolios are solved explicitly. A procedure for solving the N risky assets portfolio is described. The formulation used also reduces the restriction on the functional form of the utility preference.     

具有交易费用和马氏调制的均值-方差组合选择

研究了均值-方差准则下,最优投资组合选择问题.投资者为了增加财富它可以在金融市场上投资.金融市场由一个无风险资产和n个带跳的风险资产组成,并假设金融市场具有马氏调制,买卖风险资产时,考虑交易费用.目标是,在终值财富的均值等于d的限制下,使终值财富的方差最小,即均值-方差组合选择问题.应用随机控制的理论解决该问题,获得了最优的投资策略和有效边界.     

Risky asset allocation and consumption rule in the presence of background risk and insurance markets

This study examines joint decisions regarding risky asset allocation and consumption rate for a representative agent in the presence of background risk and insurance markets. Contrary to the conclusion of the “mutual fund separation theorem”, we show that the optimal risky asset mix will reflect an agent’s risk attitude as long as background risk is not independent of investment risk. This result can, however, be used to solve the “riskyasset allocation puzzle”. We also unveil that optimal insurance to shift background risk is determined through establishing a hedging portfolio against investment risk and is an arrangement maintaining the balance between growth and volatility of expected consumption. Because the optimal insurance we obtain generally leads to a smoother consumption path, it may plausibly explain the “equity premium puzzle” in the financial literature.     

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。     

Portfolio selection problem with multiple risky assets under the constant elasticity of variance model

This paper focuses on the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model for studying the utility maximization portfolio selection problem with multiple risky assets and a risk-free asset. The Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation associated with the portfolio optimization problem is established. By applying a power transform and a variable change technique, we derive the explicit solution for the constant absolute risk aversion (CARA) utility function when the elasticity coefficient is −1 or 0. In order to obtain a general optimal strategy for all values of the elasticity coefficient, we propose a model with two risky assets and one risk-free asset and solve it under a given assumption. Furthermore, we analyze the properties of the optimal strategies and discuss the effects of market parameters on the optimal strategies. Finally, a numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the similarities and differences between the results of the two models proposed in this paper.     

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.     

CEV模型下家庭最优投资决策问题

考虑固定收入下具有随机支出风险的家庭最优投资组合决策问题.在假设投资者拥有工资收入的同时将财富投资到一种风险资产和一种无风险资产,其中风险资产的价格服从CEV模型,无风险利率采用Vasicek随机利率模型.当支出过程是随机的且服从跳-扩散风险模型时,运用动态规划的思想建立了使家庭终端财富效用最大化的HJB方程,采用Legendre-对偶变换进行求解,得到最优策略的显示解,并通过敏感性分析进行验证表明,家庭投资需求是弹性方差系数的减函数,解释了家庭流动性财富的增加对最优投资比例呈现边际效用递减趋势.     

关于无风险资产不存在时资产组合选择的研究

以往关于资产组合选择的研究大多假设市场上存在无风险资产,但无风险资产实际上是不存在的.当不存在无风险资产时,假设投资者的效用定义在消费上,消费一直是投资者财富的一个固定比例,投资者的最优资产组合由两部分组成:短视的资产组合和对冲组合.假设只有股票和债券两种风险资产,当股票和债券的风险具有负的相关性时,投资者现在会消费更多,同时也会在股票上投资更多;两者正相关时,投资者无法降低风险,会减持股票并降低当前消费;两者不相关时,投资者持有的股票权重和存在无风险资产时一样.最后,还推导出了多种资产情况下最优消费和资产组合的解析表达式.     

Robust Optimal Investment Problem with Delay under Heston’s Model

This paper considers a robust optimal portfolio problem under Heston model in which the risky asset price is related to the historical performance. The finance market includes a riskless asset and a risky asset whose price is controlled by a stochastic delay equation. The objective is to choose the investment strategy to maximize the minimal expected utility of terminal wealth. By employing dynamic programming principle and Hamilton-Jacobin-Bellman (HJB) equation, we obtain the specific expression of the optimal control and the explicit solution of the corresponding HJB equation. Besides, a verification theorem is provided to ensure the value function is indeed the solution of the HJB equation. Finally, we use numerical examples to illustrate the relationship between the optimal strategy and parameters.

     

基于动态参照点的损失厌恶投资组合优化模型

在连续时间下,考虑损失厌恶投资者参照点的动态调整特征,构建基于动态参照点的损失厌恶投资组合模型,使用鞅方法对模型进行求解,得到最优风险资产权重的解析表达式。并计算损失厌恶投资者在参照点动态调整条件下的预期最优期末财富。进一步应用数值算例,分析投资者的参照点动态调整幅度和损失厌恶水平对模型最优风险资产权重和预期最优期末财富的影响。     

Optimal portfolio choice and stochastic volatility

In this paper we examine the effect of stochastic volatility on optimal portfolio choice in both partial and general equilibrium settings. In a partial equilibrium setting we derive an analog of the classic Samuelson–Merton optimal portfolio result and define volatility‐adjusted risk aversion as the effective risk aversion of an individual investing in an asset with stochastic volatility. We extend prior research which shows that effective risk aversion is greater with stochastic volatility than without for investors without wealth effects by providing further comparative static results on changes in effective risk aversion due to changes in the distribution of volatility. We demonstrate that effective risk aversion is increasing in the constant absolute risk aversion and the variance of the volatility distribution for investors without wealth effects. We further show that for these investors a first‐order stochastic dominant shift in the volatility distribution does not necessarily increase effective risk aversion, whereas a second‐order stochastic dominant shift in the volatility does increase effective risk aversion. Finally, we examine the effect of stochastic volatility on equilibrium asset prices. We derive an explicit capital asset pricing relationship that illustrates how stochastic volatility alters equilibrium asset prices in a setting with multiple risky assets, where returns have a market factor and asset‐specific random components and multiple investor types. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mean-variance portfolio selection for a non-life insurance company

We consider a collective insurance risk model with a compound Cox claim process, in which the evolution of a claim intensity is described by a stochastic differential equation driven by a Brownian motion. The insurer operates in a financial market consisting of a risk-free asset with a constant force of interest and a risky asset which price is driven by a Lévy noise. We investigate two optimization problems. The first one is the classical mean-variance portfolio selection. In this case the efficient frontier is derived. The second optimization problem, except the mean-variance terminal objective, includes also a running cost penalizing deviations of the insurer’s wealth from a specified profit-solvency target which is a random process. In order to find optimal strategies we apply techniques from the stochastic control theory.     

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.     

Optimal strategies for selecting project portfolios using uncertain value estimates

Practically all organizations seek to create value by selecting and executing portfolios of actions that consume resources. Typically, the resulting value is uncertain, and thus organizations must take decisions based on ex ante estimates about what this future value will be. In this paper, we show that the Bayesian modeling of uncertainties in this selection problem serves to (i) increase the expected future value of the selected portfolio, (ii) raise the expected number of selected actions that belong to the optimal portfolio ex post, and (iii) eliminate the expected gap between the realized ex post portfolio value and the estimated ex ante portfolio value. We also propose a new project performance measure, defined as the probability that a given action belongs to the optimal portfolio. Finally, we provide analytic results to determine which actions should be re-evaluated to obtain more accurate value estimates before portfolio selection. In particular, we show that the optimal targeting of such re-evaluations can yield a much higher portfolio value in return for the total resources that are spent on the execution of actions and the acquisition of value estimates.     

Nonmyopic optimal portfolios in viable markets

We provide a representation for the nonmyopic optimal portfolio of an agent consuming only at the terminal horizon when the single state variable follows a general diffusion process and the market consists of one risky asset and a risk-free asset. The key term of our representation is a new object that we call the “rate of macroeconomic fluctuation” whose properties are fundamental for the portfolio dynamics. We show that, under natural cyclicality conditions, (i) the agent’s hedging demand is positive (negative) when the product of his prudence and risk tolerance is below (above) two and (ii) the portfolio weights decrease in risk aversion. We apply our results to study a general continuous-time capital asset pricing model and show that under the same cyclicality conditions, the market price of risk is countercyclical and the price of the risky asset exhibits excess volatility.     

Heston随机波动率模型下的资产负债管理问题

应用随机最优控制方法研究Heston随机波动率模型下带有负债过程的动态投资组合问题,其中假设股票价格服从Heston随机波动率模型,负债过程由带漂移的布朗运动所驱动.金融市场由一种无风险资产和一种风险资产组成.应用随机动态规划原理和变量替换法得出了上述问题在幂效用和指数效用函数下最优投资策略的显示解,并给出数值算例分别分析了市场参数在幂效用和指数效用函数下对最优投资策略的影响.