arXiv subjects

Nizar Touzi

Publications and source records attributed to Nizar Touzi.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Moral Hazard in Dynamic Risk Management

We consider a contracting problem in which a principal hires an agent to manage a risky project. When the agent chooses volatility components of the output process and the principal observes the output continuously, the principal can compute the quadratic variation of the output, but not the individual components. This leads to moral hazard with respect to the risk choices of the agent. We identify a family of admissible contracts for which the optimal agent's action is explicitly characterized, and, using the recent theory of singular changes of measures for Itô processes, we study how restrictive this family is. In particular, in the special case of the standard Homlström-Milgrom model with fixed volatility, the family includes all possible contracts. We solve the principal-agent problem in the case of CARA preferences, and show that the optimal contract is linear in these factors: the contractible sources of risk, including the output, the quadratic variation of the output and the cross-variations between the output and the contractible risk sources. Thus, like sample Sharpe ratios used in practice, path-dependent contracts naturally arise when there is moral hazard with respect to risk management. In a numerical example, we show that the loss of efficiency can be significant if the principal does not use the quadratic variation component of the optimal contract.

q-fin.PM↗

arXiv2015

Optimal Skorokhod embedding given full marginals and Azema-Yor peacocks

We consider the optimal Skorokhod embedding problem (SEP) given full marginals over the time interval $[0,1]$. The problem is related to the study of extremal martingales associated with a peacock ("process increasing in convex order", by Hirsch, Profeta, Roynette and Yor). A general duality result is obtained by convergence techniques. We then study the case where the reward function depends on the maximum of the embedding process, which is the limit of the martingale transport problem studied in Henry-Labordere, Obloj, Spoida and Touzi. Under technical conditions, some explicit characteristics of the solutions to the optimal SEP as well as to its dual problem are obtained. We also discuss the associated martingale inequality.

math.PR↗

arXiv2015

Liquidation of an indivisible asset with independent investment

We provide an extension of the explicit solution of a mixed optimal stopping-optimal stochastic control problem introduced by Henderson and Hobson. The problem examines wether the optimal investment problem on a local martingale financial market is affected by the optimal liquidation of an independent indivisible asset. The indivisible asset process is defined by a homogeneous scalar stochastic differential equation, and the investor's preferences are defined by a general expected utility function. The value function is obtained in explicit form, and we prove the existence of an optimal stopping-investment strategy characterized as the limit of an explicit maximizing strategy. Our approach is based on the standard dynamic programming approach.

q-fin.PM↗

arXiv2014

Comparison of Viscosity Solutions of Semi-linear Path-Dependent PDEs

This paper provides a probabilistic proof of the comparison result for viscosity solutions of path-dependent semilinear PDEs. We consider the notion of viscosity solutions introduced in \cite{EKTZ} which considers as test functions all those smooth processes which are tangent in mean. When restricted to the Markovian case, this definition induces a larger set of test functions, and reduces to the notion of stochastic viscosity solutions analyzed in \cite{BayraktarSirbu1,BayraktarSirbu2}. Our main result takes advantage of this enlargement of the test functions, and provides an easier proof of comparison. This is most remarkable in the context of the linear path-dependent heat equation. As a key ingredient for our methodology, we introduce a notion of punctual differentiation, similar to the corresponding concept in the standard viscosity solutions \cite{CaffarelliCabre}, and we prove that semimartingales are almost everywhere punctually differentiable. This smoothness result can be viewed as the counterpart of the Aleksandroff smoothness result for convex functions. A similar comparison result was established earlier in \cite{EKTZ}. The result of this paper is more general and, more importantly, the arguments that we develop do not rely on any representation of the solution.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

Martingale Inequalities for the Maximum via Pathwise Arguments

We study a class of martingale inequalities involving the running maximum process. They are derived from pathwise inequalities introduced by Henry_Labordere et al. (2013) and provide an upper bound on the expectation of a function of the running maximum in terms of marginal distributions at n intermediate time points. The class of inequalities is rich and we show that in general no inequality is uniformly sharp - for any two inequalities we specify martingales such that one or the other inequality is sharper. We then use our inequalities to recover Doob's L^p inequalities. For p in (0,1] we obtain new, or refined, inequalities.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

Viscosity Solutions of Fully Nonlinear Parabolic Path Dependent PDEs: Part I

The main objective of this paper and the accompanying one \cite{ETZ2} is to provide a notion of viscosity solutions for fully nonlinear parabolic path-dependent PDEs. Our definition extends our previous work \cite{EKTZ}, focused on the semilinear case, and is crucially based on the nonlinear optimal stopping problem analyzed in \cite{ETZ0}. We prove that our notion of viscosity solutions is consistent with the corresponding notion of classical solutions, and satisfies a stability property and a partial comparison result. The latter is a key step for the wellposedness results established in \cite{ETZ2}. We also show that the value processes of path-dependent stochastic control problems are viscosity solutions of the corresponding path dependent dynamic programming equation.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

An overview of Viscosity Solutions of Path-Dependent PDEs

This paper provides an overview of the recently developed notion of viscosity solutions of path-dependent partial di erential equations. We start by a quick review of the Crandall- Ishii notion of viscosity solutions, so as to motivate the relevance of our de nition in the path-dependent case. We focus on the wellposedness theory of such equations. In partic- ular, we provide a simple presentation of the current existence and uniqueness arguments in the semilinear case. We also review the stability property of this notion of solutions, in- cluding the adaptation of the Barles-Souganidis monotonic scheme approximation method. Our results rely crucially on the theory of optimal stopping under nonlinear expectation. In the dominated case, we provide a self-contained presentation of all required results. The fully nonlinear case is more involved and is addressed in [12].

math.AP↗

arXiv2014

Large Deviations for Non-Markovian Diffusions and a Path-Dependent Eikonal Equation

This paper provides a large deviation principle for Non-Markovian, Brownian motion driven stochastic differential equations with random coefficients. Similar to Gao and Liu \cite{GL}, this extends the corresponding results collected in Freidlin and Wentzell \cite{FreidlinWentzell}. However, we use a different line of argument, adapting the PDE method of Fleming \cite{Fleming} and Evans and Ishii \cite{EvansIshii} to the path-dependent case, by using backward stochastic differential techniques. Similar to the Markovian case, we obtain a characterization of the action function as the unique bounded solution of a path-dependent version of the Eikonal equation. Finally, we provide an application to the short maturity asymptotics of the implied volatility surface in financial mathematics.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

On viscosity solutions of path dependent PDEs

In this paper we propose a notion of viscosity solutions for path dependent semi-linear parabolic PDEs. This can also be viewed as viscosity solutions of non-Markovian backward SDEs, and thus extends the well-known nonlinear Feynman-Kac formula to non-Markovian case. We shall prove the existence, uniqueness, stability and comparison principle for the viscosity solutions. The key ingredient of our approach is a functional Itô calculus recently introduced by Dupire [Functional Itô calculus (2009) Preprint].

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

A numerical algorithm for a class of BSDEs via branching process

We generalize the algorithm for semi-linear parabolic PDEs in Henry-Labordère (2012) to the non-Markovian case for a class of Backward SDEs (BSDEs). By simulating the branching process, the algorithm does not need any backward regression. To prove that the numerical algorithm converges to the solution of BSDEs, we use the notion of viscosity solution of path dependent PDEs introduced by Ekren, Keller, Touzi and Zhang (2012) and extended in Ekren, Touzi and Zhang (2013).

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Optimal transportation under controlled stochastic dynamics

We consider an extension of the Monge-Kantorovitch optimal transportation problem. The mass is transported along a continuous semimartingale, and the cost of transportation depends on the drift and the diffusion coefficients of the continuous semimartingale. The optimal transportation problem minimizes the cost among all continuous semimartingales with given initial and terminal distributions. Our first main result is an extension of the Kantorovitch duality to this context. We also suggest a finite-difference scheme combined with the gradient projection algorithm to approximate the dual value. We prove the convergence of the scheme, and we derive a rate of convergence. We finally provide an application in the context of financial mathematics, which originally motivated our extension of the Monge-Kantorovitch problem. Namely, we implement our scheme to approximate no-arbitrage bounds on the prices of exotic options given the implied volatility curve of some maturity.

math.PR↗

arXiv2013

Homogenization and asymptotics for small transaction costs

We consider the classical Merton problem of lifetime consumption-portfolio optimization problem with small proportional transaction costs. The first order term in the asymptotic expansion is explicitly calculated through a singular ergodic control problem which can be solved in closed form in the one-dimensional case. Unlike the existing literature, we consider a general utility function and general dynamics for the underlying assets. Our arguments are based on ideas from the homogenization theory and use the convergence tools from the theory of viscosity solutions. The multidimensional case is studied in our accompanying paper using the same approach.

math.OC↗

arXiv2013

An Explicit Martingale Version of Brenier's Theorem

By investigating model-independent bounds for exotic options in financial mathematics, a martingale version of the Monge-Kantorovich mass transport problem was introduced in \cite{BeiglbockHenry LaborderePenkner,GalichonHenry-LabordereTouzi}. In this paper, we extend the one-dimensional Brenier's theorem to the present martingale version. We provide the explicit martingale optimal transference plans for a remarkable class of coupling functions corresponding to the lower and upper bounds. These explicit extremal probability measures coincide with the unique left and right monotone martingale transference plans, which were introduced in \cite{BeiglbockJuillet} by suitable adaptation of the notion of cyclic monotonicity. Instead, our approach relies heavily on the (weak) duality result stated in \cite{BeiglbockHenry-LaborderePenkner}, and provides, as a by-product, an explicit expression for the corresponding optimal semi-static hedging strategies. We finally provide an extension to the multiple marginals case.

q-fin.CP↗

arXiv2013

On the Robust superhedging of measurable claims

The problem of robust hedging requires to solve the problem of superhedging under a nondominated family of singular measures. Recent progress was achieved by [9,11]. We show that the dual formulation of this problem is valid in a context suitable for martingale optimal transportation or, more generally, for optimal transportation under controlled stochastic dynamics.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2013

Dual formulation of second order target problems

This paper provides a new formulation of second order stochastic target problems introduced in [SIAM J. Control Optim. 48 (2009) 2344-2365] by modifying the reference probability so as to allow for different scales. This new ingredient enables us to prove a dual formulation of the target problem as the supremum of the solutions of standard backward stochastic differential equations. In particular, in the Markov case, the dual problem is known to be connected to a fully nonlinear, parabolic partial differential equation and this connection can be viewed as a stochastic representation for all nonlinear, scalar, second order, parabolic equations with a convex Hessian dependence.

math.PR↗

arXiv2013

Optimal Stopping under Nonlinear Expectation

Let $X$ be a bounded càdlàg process with positive jumps defined on the canonical space of continuous paths. We consider the problem of optimal stopping the process $X$ under a nonlinear expectation operator $\cE$ defined as the supremum of expectations over a weakly compact family of nondominated measures. We introduce the corresponding nonlinear Snell envelope. Our main objective is to extend the Snell envelope characterization to the present context. Namely, we prove that the nonlinear Snell envelope is an $\cE-$supermartingale, and an $\cE-$martingale up to its first hitting time of the obstacle $X$. This result is obtained under an additional uniform continuity property of $X$. We also extend the result in the context of a random horizon optimal stopping problem. This result is crucial for the newly developed theory of viscosity solutions of path-dependent PDEs as introduced in Ekren et al., in the semilinear case, and extended to the fully nonlinear case in the accompanying papers (Ekren, Touzi, and Zhang, parts I and II).

math.PR↗

arXiv2013

Homogenization and asymptotics for small transaction costs: the multidimensional case

In the context of the multi-dimensional infinite horizon optimal consumption-investment problem with proportional transaction costs, we provide the first order expansion in small transact costs. Similar to the one-dimensional derivation in our accompanying paper [42], the asymptotic expansion is expressed in terms of a singular ergodic control problem, and our arguments are based on the theory of viscosity solutions, and the techniques of homogenization which leads to a system of corrector equations. In contrast with the one-dimensional case, no explicit solution of the first corrector equation is available anymore. Finally, we provide some numerical results which illustrate the structure of the first order optimal controls.

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

Singular Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations and Emissions Derivatives

We introduce two simple models of forward-backward stochastic differential equations with a singular terminal condition and we explain how and why they appear naturally as models for the valuation of CO2 emission allowances. Single phase cap-and-trade schemes lead readily to terminal conditions given by indicator functions of the forward component, and using fine partial differential equations estimates, we show that the existence theory of these equations, as well as the properties of the candidates for solution, depend strongly upon the characteristics of the forward dynamics. Finally, we give a first order Taylor expansion and show how to numerically calibrate some of these models for the purpose of CO2 option pricing.

q-fin.PR↗