Homogeneity 2026-10-06
Homogeneity of degree means that multiplying all arguments by a common positive factor multiplies the output by . A homogeneous function is the function possessing this property. This is different from degree-one positive homogeneity; investment values with constant relative risk aversion utility usually have degree .
Merton consumption-investment problem 2026-10-06
For a constant-coefficient single-asset investment-consumption problem with constant relative risk aversion utility, put and . When , the infinite-horizon value is and the optimal controls are and . The case uses logarithmic utility.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 41 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Normalize the constant relative risk aversion utility as . The printed specification of alone also permits an additive constant ; that would add to the value, so the stated homogeneity holds for the normalized value. SetMultiplying initial wealth, the historical maximum, dollar investments, and consumption by multiplies every term of the wealth equation by , including the tax term. It maps admissible policies bijectively and multiplies the normalized reward by . Therefore the value scales asThe historical maximum means when initially .
Inside the state region , the maximum is locally constant. The Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation isAt , the finite-variation contribution in the Itô formula is . The high-water mark tax boundary condition is consequentlyFor an increasing, strictly concave function of wealth, optimizing the two controls givesThe consumption convex conjugate isSubstitution of the homogeneity derivatives gives the reduced equation and boundary conditionThe controls in scaled variables are and .
Use the wealth-variable Legendre dualSince , the inverse map satisfies and . Inserting into the reduced Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation gives a linear Euler equationFor the Euler differential equation operator on the left, its action on is . Write . Under , the particular solution is . For the nondegenerate case , the two characteristic roots are , with because and . Thus the general solution also contains .
Here and the relevant dual domain is . The inverse wealth ratio must have as . The particular solution and the negative-root term have derivatives tending to zero, whereas has an unbounded derivative unless . Hence the admissible dual solution has the claimed formThe quadratic-root formulation presupposes a nonzero market price of risk. If , the dual equation becomes first order; it is treated directly or by an appropriate nondegenerate limit rather than by assuming two quadratic roots.
The inverse map and the tax boundary provide two equations at :Because , these becomeLet . Eliminating gives . Also , since puts strictly between the two roots. The derivative boundary then gives . Therefore the constants areThere is an important admissibility qualification in the printed conclusion. With ,The second term is negative, but decays faster than the first because . Direct differentiation at the boundary givesA wealth-variable Legendre dual of a concave value must be a convex function. Thus the printed smooth tax-paying solution requires , with the limiting case allowed as a degenerate boundary. The assumptions and do not imply this: for example , , , , and give and , hence negative boundary dual curvature.
For higher tax the investor can avoid raising the historical maximum. The wealth-cap investment boundary replaces the tax-paying equality by , alongside . Solving these equations givesThese are the same constants with replaced by . More generally the admissible two-regime expression usesin the constants, while the claimed formulas themselves describe the tax-paying regime. In the cap regime the portfolio volatility vanishes at and the consumption rate there is , so the wealth drift points inward and no new maximum is required. The remaining boundary inequality is , consistent with avoiding costly maximum increases. For , dual curvature is positive because the negative term in decays faster than the positive term. Thus this qualification repairs an actual missing parameter restriction rather than a TeX transcription error.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 41 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use dollar holdings , including the traded index, and let . The Itô formula givesDefine the state-dependent correlation , , and constants . The self-financing portfolio with consumption has wealth equationSince all these assets are traded and , the volatility map is invertible. It is useful to optimize over Brownian portfolio exposureswhose market price of risk vector isIndeed . Put .
For , normalize constant relative risk aversion utility to . Scaling wealth, holdings, and consumption by leaves the index state unchanged and multiplies reward by . ThusFor a finite smooth value with , the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, including the shared-noise cross derivative, isThe last term is essential: index changes and the component of wealth are correlated. The first-order conditions yieldBecause , , and , the optimized portfolio contribution isSubstitution gives the requested second-order nonlinear equationRecovering dollar holdings from the exposures gives the optimal controlsOnly the index holding carries the extra intertemporal hedging demand, because the index is the source of state variation. The stock positions hedge their common exposure through the index.
The power transformation of a complete-market investment equation gives a useful further simplification. Let , and defineExpanding the squared term and substituting cancels the two terms. The power-transformed investment equation is linear:Then and . A practical finite difference method solves this linear differential equation on an expanding truncated interval in , enforcing the economically relevant positive solution and checking domain and mesh convergence. If correlation approaches limits strictly inside and the corresponding , the constant-coefficient Merton consumption-investment problem gives endpoint approximations . Without such asymptotics one must determine appropriate growth/transversality conditions; arbitrary fixed endpoint values are not justified. The statement's smooth decreasing correlation alone does not ensure globally bounded market prices of risk or a finite value. Any numerical candidate must also satisfy admissibility and the investment value transversality condition.
The printed includes . In that case choose , whose scaling is additive:There is no shared-noise cross derivative because . The logarithmic case isThus the dollar holdings are the preceding formulas with and the hedge term omitted. This linear differential equation can be solved by the same truncation and convergence strategy.
For a complete-market investment-consumption problem with constant relative risk aversion utility, the nonlinear wealth-homogeneity coefficient equation may contain . Writing cancels this gradient square against the one from . In the index-driven correlation model the result is , a linear differential equation; the positive economic solution gives consumption .