Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-39/2/i/solution

Write and, for a constant bank rate , define
Assume , positive portfolio wealth, unrestricted stock fractions and the usual nonnegative-wealth admissibility. Once the rate has changed, the model is the Merton consumption-investment problem with . Put . In its finite-value regime , the answer is
Here is the fraction of portfolio wealth in the stock, so the dollar holding is .
The positive-coefficient condition matters: the stated signs of and alone do not guarantee finite infinite-horizon expected utility maximization. If , the unconstrained Merton consumption-investment problem has value for and for . The remaining calculation therefore uses .

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