arXiv subjects

Martin Herdegen

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Herdegen.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

The Infinite Horizon Investment-Consumption Problem for Epstein-Zin Stochastic Differential Utility

In this article we consider the optimal investment-consumption problem for an agent with preferences governed by Epstein-Zin stochastic differential utility who invests in a constant-parameter Black-Scholes-Merton market. The paper has three main goals: first, to provide a detailed introduction to infinite-horizon Epstein-Zin stochastic differential utility, including a discussion of which parameter combinations lead to a well-formulated problem; second, to prove existence and uniqueness of infinite horizon Epstein-Zin stochastic differential utility under a restriction on the parameters governing the agent's risk aversion and temporal variance aversion; and third, to provide a verification argument for the candidate optimal solution to the investment-consumption problem among all admissible consumption streams. To achieve these goals, we introduce a slightly different formulation of Epstein-Zin stochastic differential utility to that which is traditionally used in the literature. This formulation highlights the necessity and appropriateness of certain restrictions on the parameters governing the stochastic differential utility function.

q-fin.MF↗

arXiv2021

An elementary approach to the Merton problem

In this article we consider the infinite-horizon Merton investment-consumption problem in a constant-parameter Black - Scholes - Merton market for an agent with constant relative risk aversion R. The classical primal approach is to write down a candidate value function and to use a verification argument to prove that this is the solution to the problem. However, features of the problem take it outside the standard settings of stochastic control, and the existing primal verification proofs rely on parameter restrictions (especially, but not only, R<1), restrictions on the space of admissible strategies, or intricate approximation arguments. The purpose of this paper is to show that these complications can be overcome using a simple and elegant argument involving a stochastic perturbation of the utility function.

q-fin.MF↗

arXiv2020

Equilibrium Asset Pricing with Transaction Costs

We study risk-sharing economies where heterogenous agents trade subject to quadratic transaction costs. The corresponding equilibrium asset prices and trading strategies are characterised by a system of nonlinear, fully-coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations. We show that a unique solution generally exists provided that the agents' preferences are sufficiently similar. In a benchmark specification with linear state dynamics, the illiquidity discounts and liquidity premia observed empirically correspond to a positive relationship between transaction costs and volatility.

q-fin.PM↗

arXiv2019

Scaling Limits of Processes with Fast Nonlinear Mean Reversion

We derive scaling limits for integral functionals of Itô processes with fast nonlinear mean-reversion speed. We show that in these limits, the fast mean-reverting process is "averaged out" by integrating against its invariant measure. These convergence results hold uniformly in probability and, under mild integrability conditions, also in $\mathcal{S}^p$. They are a crucial building block for the analysis of portfolio choice models with small superlinear transaction costs, carried out in the companion paper of the present study.

math.PR↗

arXiv2018

Equilibrium Returns with Transaction Costs

We study how trading costs are reflected in equilibrium returns. To this end, we develop a tractable continuous-time risk-sharing model, where heterogeneous mean-variance investors trade subject to a quadratic transaction cost. The corresponding equilibrium is characterized as the unique solution of a system of coupled but linear forward-backward stochastic differential equations. Explicit solutions are obtained in a number of concrete settings. The sluggishness of the frictional portfolios makes the corresponding equilibrium returns mean-reverting. Compared to the frictionless case, expected returns are higher if the more risk-averse agents are net sellers or if the asset supply expands over time.

q-fin.PM↗

arXiv2017

Strict Local Martingales and Optimal Investment in a Black-Scholes Model with a Bubble

There are two major streams of literature on the modeling of financial bubbles: the strict local martingale framework and the Johansen-Ledoit-Sornette (JLS) financial bubble model. Based on a class of models that embeds the JLS model and can exhibit strict local martingale behavior, we clarify the connection between these previously disconnected approaches. While the original JLS model is never a strict local martingale, there are relaxations which can be strict local martingales and which preserve the key assumption of a log-periodic power law for the hazard rate of the time of the crash. We then study the optimal investment problem for an investor with constant relative risk aversion in this model. We show that for positive instantaneous expected returns, investors with relative risk aversion above one always ride the bubble.

q-fin.MF↗

arXiv2016

Minimal Conditions for Implications of Gronwall-Bellman Type

Gronwall-Bellman type inequalities entail the following implication: if a sufficiently integrable function satisfies a certain homogeneous linear integral inequality, then it is nonpositive. We present a minimal (necessary and sufficient) condition on the Borel measure underlying the integrals for this implication to hold. The condition is also a necessary prerequisite for any nontrivial bound on solutions to inhomogeneous linear integral inequalities of Gronwall-Bellman type.

math.CA↗

arXiv2015

Single Jump Processes and Strict Local Martingales

Many results in stochastic analysis and mathematical finance involve local martingales. However, specific examples of strict local martingales are rare and analytically often rather unhandy. We study local martingales that follow a given deterministic function up to a random time $γ$ at which they jump and stay constant afterwards. The (local) martingale properties of these single jump local martingales are characterised in terms of conditions on the input parameters. This classification allows an easy construction of strict local martingales, uniformly integrable martingales that are not in $H^1$, etc. As an application, we provide a construction of a (uniformly integrable) martingale $M$ and a bounded (deterministic) integrand $H$ such that the stochastic integral $H\bullet M$ is a strict local martingale.

math.PR↗