IMA Journal of Management Mathematics Advance Access originally published online on November 28, 2005
IMA Journal of Management Mathematics 2006 17(3):257-276; doi:10.1093/imaman/dpi041
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Saddle points for maximin investment problems with observable but non-predictable parameters: solution via heat equation
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Limerick, Ireland
** Email: nikolai.dokuchaev{at}ul.ie
We study optimal investment problem for a market model where the evolution of risky assets prices is described by Itô's equations. The risk-free rate, the appreciation rates and the volatility of the stocks are all random; they depend on a random parameter that is not adapted to the driving Brownian motion. The distribution of this parameter is unknown. The optimal investment problem is stated in a maximin setting to ensure that a strategy is found such that the minimum of expected utility over all possible distributions of parameters is maximal. We show that a saddle point exists and can be found via a solution of the standard 1D heat equation with a Cauchy condition defined via one dimensional minimization. This solution even covers models with unknown solution for a given distribution of the market parameters.
Keywords: continuous time market models; uncertainty; minimax problems; optimal portfolio; saddle point
Received on 22 October 2003. accepted on 17 October 2005.