Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 2 28J i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let represent the information at decision time and conditional expectation given it. is the largest conditional expected utility from the remaining consumption opportunities with current wealth ; it may depend on the information state as well as . The controls and are chosen using current information. In the usual allocation interpretation and , and next wealth is . Other borrowing/short-selling rules require explicitly replacing this admissible set while preserving solvency.
The Bellman equation follows by separating current utility from future utility: after any current decision the best continuation has conditional value , and maximizing over the current admissible decisions gives the stated recursion. At the last opportunity all wealth is consumed, because utility is increasing, giving .
There are two printed qualifications. Strict convexity is not needed for this recursion, but it conflicts with the concave power utility in part (ii) and does not support the interior maximizing first-order conditions in part (iii). Also the displayed recursion starting at includes consumption at times , whereas the preceding sum starts at one. The same recursion represents that sum when begun at time one; alternatively relabel the consumption dates. Below the policy is given for the recursion's remaining horizon, so this indexing discrepancy does not leave the optimization unspecified.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 40 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a competitive equilibrium with one productive asset, the primitives are the probability law and information filtration of total output , each agent's utility function and discount factor, the initial ownership shares summing to one, and the permitted consumption and trading strategies. Prices are not primitives of the equilibrium problem. The derived objects are the ex-dividend price , each agent's consumption and holdings , and their marginal-utility pricing processes. At a common price, every agent solves the individual problem, and resource and share clearing requireThe individual discrete dividend budget equations, optimality Euler equations and terminal conditions from part (i), together with these clearing equations, define equilibrium even when the market is incomplete. Summing the individual budget constraints is consistent with total fruit consumption.
For the given constant absolute risk aversion utility, . Hence each interior optimum satisfiesThe same must satisfy all these equations, but their conditional expectation identities do not by themselves identify the different agents' pricing densities pointwise.
To illustrate explicit exponential-utility risk sharing, first consider a complete or otherwise implementable interior allocation. With positive constant welfare weights , a pointwise resource multiplier satisfiesWriteSolving the marginal equations and summing the consumptions givesThe output risk is shared in proportion to risk tolerance ; differences in patience produce the time-dependent transfer term. The common normalized state-price density is . The weights, up to a common scale, are determined by the initial wealth budgetsand, for a fundamental price,If consumption is required to be nonnegative and the interior formula produces a negative allocation, replace it byFor this determines the resource multiplier uniquely. At zero total output all constrained consumptions are zero and the corresponding marginal inequalities apply.
A single traded tree need not span the contingent transfers in the general risk-sharing formula. A genuine equilibrium example within the literal one-tree market is obtained by taking all and initial shares . ThenEvery agent simply keeps the initial shares, all budget constraints and clearing conditions hold, and their discounted marginal utilities coincide. The fundamental price above satisfies every Euler equation. For example, nonnegative bounded output ensures the required price and utility integrability and the terminal terms vanish; the supporting-line argument from part (i) then verifies individual optimality. For heterogeneous discount factors or arbitrary initial ownership, the displayed coupled Euler-budget-clearing system remains the correct one-tree formulation; using the unconstrained Pareto allocation as a traded equilibrium requires an additional financing check.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 40 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use for the dollar amount invested in the stock; the number of shares is . The bank account contains dollars. With no intermediate consumption, the self-financing portfolio equation isIf instead denotes share holdings, replace each dollar here by . The equation says that trading only reallocates existing portfolio wealth; gains come from cash interest and stock returns.
For the standard unconstrained complete-diffusion formulation, assume the completed natural Brownian filtration, initial wealth , and nonnegative admissible wealth. Define the market price of risk . The boundedness assumptions make bounded. The state-price density normalized at zero isIts money-market-adjusted process is a true martingale by the Novikov condition. Under , the Girsanov theorem gives as a Brownian motion, and the discounted stock has zero drift.
The Itô product rule applied to the wealth equation givesFor nonnegative admissible wealth this is a nonnegative local martingale, hence a supermartingale. Therefore every affordable terminal payoff satisfies the state-price budget constraint . Nonzero volatility and the Brownian martingale representation theorem allow replication of nonnegative claims with finite state-price cost.
For a differentiable strictly concave utility function with the usual conditions ensuring an interior integrable optimizer, put , the inverse marginal utility. Pointwise maximization of givesThe second equation determines the positive constant . To prove optimality, use the concave supporting-tangent inequality:Taking expectations and using the budget bound proves that the candidate dominates every admissible affordable payoff, whenever the utility expectations are well defined. This is the complete-market terminal utility optimizer.
The actual wealth and dollar portfolio are as explicit as general adapted coefficients permit. LetThe Brownian martingale representation theorem, with localization if only integrability is initially known, gives . The dollar portfolio from a deflated wealth martingale isThe bank holds dollars. Equivalently, with , . These formulas need no unjustified differentiability of a value function with random coefficients.
The printed assumption that is only increasing and concave does not guarantee that the interior formula exists, or even that the optimal value is finite. In general replace the inverse formula by an affordable selectionwhere is the wealth domain; boundary choices or supporting slopes handle nondifferentiability. Existence, finite cost and replication still have to hold. A concrete obstruction is the unbounded linear terminal-wealth utility: take , , , and the Brownian filtration. Then . For , the bounded nonnegative claimis replicable, costs , and has . Thus there is no finite optimal expected utility under the literal utility hypotheses alone. Also, bounded coefficients do not ensure market completeness in an arbitrarily enlarged filtration containing untraded randomness; the full replication formula uses the Brownian market information assumption stated above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 39 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Interpret the exponential distribution change time as an exogenous time independent of the stock's Brownian motion, or, equivalently for this calculation, as having constant conditional intensity while the rate remains high. Its marginal distribution alone would not imply that conditional intensity if the change time carried information about stock returns. Write , , , and let be the prechange value function.
Over a short interval , a rate change occurs with probability and changes continuation value from to . The dynamic programming equation is consequentlyThis jump term distinguishes the exponential interest-rate switch from a permanent higher bank rate.
By the homogeneity of CRRA utility, put , with . Differentiating the strictly concave expressions in and givesThe optimized consumption terms contribute , and the optimized investment terms contribute . With , the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation reduces toEquivalently,The left side is continuous and strictly increasing for , with limits zero and infinity. Thus gives one and only one positive root. This scalar equation is an explicit characterization for arbitrary real ; elementary closed forms are not generally available. For example, when ,Use until the rate changes, and afterwards. If the two rates coincide, the root is ; as tends to infinity, it also tends to .
For a direct attainability check, use the proposed prechange constant fractions. The geometric Brownian motion moment is on the prechange evolution. Conditioning on the independent exponential distribution time therefore givesThe denominator is positive because the scalar equation gives . Hence the candidate policy actually achieves the stated value.
One can also verify the upper bound for both signs of without relying on a sign-sensitive terminal-value argument. Let be the current regime, the candidate portfolio wealth, andIf and , the Itô formula and the scalar equation givewhere the jump term stops after the switch and continuous coefficients are understood predictably. Thus is a positive martingale deflator: for any admissible portfolio wealth , the process is a nonnegative local martingale. It follows thatFor the candidate policy, . Indeed its surviving prechange term decays at rate , and its postchange terms decay at rate ; integrating over the switch time preserves convergence to zero. The finite-time moment computations also make its budget equality exact. Consequently . Apply the concave supporting-tangent inequalityand integrate in time and expectation. The budget inequality proves that no admissible policy exceeds the candidate. This verifies the value function, including when .
Both and are needed for a finite prechange answer. If the postchange value is already infinite, that problem persists after the almost surely finite switch. If but , then for a small constant prechange consumption fraction makes the expected utility function before the switch diverge, or makes its supremum diverge when . For , the optimal no-consumption terminal moment before the switch is ; withdrawals only increase this negative-power moment. The expected magnitude of the negative postchange continuation utility function therefore contains the divergent integral . Thus these cases yield respectively or , rather than a positive-root solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 39 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Define the positive constantSince , the stock price has capital-appreciation dynamics . But each share also pays the flow . Its dividend-inclusive portfolio return therefore has driftThis is the drift to use in the Merton consumption-investment problem; using only capital appreciation would omit an actual source of portfolio wealth.
At the proposed bank rate,Thus the optimal stock fraction from part (i) isMoreover,Substituting this into the optimal consumption coefficient yieldsHence the finite-value condition in part (i) is automatically satisfied.
The agent's endowment of the single productive share has portfolio wealth . Investing fraction one in the stock means holding share, leaving in the bank account. The optimal consumption rate isThis policy also satisfies the self-financing portfolio equation: with one share and no bank balance,Thus remains valid at all times. The agent holds the entire one-share supply, has zero net borrowing or lending, and consumes exactly the supplied goods. The stock, bank-account and consumption-good markets all clear.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 39 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose the utility function primitive . Any other primitive with the same derivative differs by a constant ; this adds to the value function and does not alter the policy. Put and let be the stock fraction. The self-financing portfolio equation, including consumption withdrawals, isFor a time-independent infinite-horizon value function , the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation isScaling initial portfolio wealth and all consumption rates by the same positive number preserves admissibility and scales utility function by its th power. This homogeneity gives . In particular,The consumption first-order condition and stock first-order condition giveThe second derivatives of the optimized expressions are negative, so these are their global maximizers. Writing and substituting into the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation givesThereforeThe given inequality is precisely , so the Merton consumption-investment problem value is . This derives the requested policy; no additional verification argument is needed here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 39 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the primitive , as in Question 3, and the usual positive spot volatility convention . An additive utility function constant shifts both agents' value functions equally and does not affect their policies or the comparison. SetThe Itô formula applied to the stock price and the binary Brownian drift filter givesLet denote the dollar stock holding. The separated state equations areBoth states use the same observed Brownian motion. In particular, their quadratic covariation is .
Let be the Bayesian value function. Its Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation isThe cross derivative is necessary: learning and portfolio wealth are correlated through the same observation shock. At a smooth, finite, strictly concave value, the optimal consumption and stock holding areThe number of shares is , and the wealth fraction is .
More explicitly, homogeneity gives , where . ThenThe additional term is the learning hedge in a binary-drift investment model, a form of intertemporal hedging demand. Merely putting the Bayesian posterior mean drift into a constant-coefficient investment formula would omit it. Eliminating the controls gives the coefficient equationThe economic solution is selected by admissibility and the infinite-horizon value condition, rather than by an arbitrary solution of this ordinary differential equation.
For the comparison, now suppose and . Write , , andWhen , the informed agent's Merton consumption-investment problem has valueThese are the policies available to an agent who knows the true drift is .
For any admissible Bayesian policy, not only its optimum, defineThe integration variable is throughout the accumulated utility function. Applying the Itô formula in the Bayesian observation filtration giveswhereThe informed-agent Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation says . Maximizing the stock term at any excess drift givesSince , this maximum increases with . The binary Brownian drift filter satisfies , and thereforeIt follows that . Thus is a local supermartingale. Because , both accumulated utility function and are nonnegative. A nonnegative local supermartingale is a genuine supermartingale, by localization and the conditional Fatou lemma. This proves the requested assertion under the Bayesian probability law, without conditioning that law on the favorable drift.
ConsequentlyThe monotone convergence theorem lets tend to infinity. Taking the supremum over Bayesian policies proves the maximal squared Sharpe ratio value boundIn particular this holds at the equal-prior state . No vanishing-terminal-value assumption is needed for this upper bound, because the terminal term is nonnegative and can simply be dropped.
The finite-value assumption is missing from the printed comparison. Without it, and the value inequality is trivial, but is not a finite supermartingale. For a concrete allowed example, take , , , and . Then and . For the informed agent, the constant stock fraction and consumption giveThe time integral diverges, so his value is infinite. This is why the nontrivial finite-supermartingale proof above needs the stated qualification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 39 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The holdings and are numbers of shares, so the marked-to-market portfolio value isThe stock prices are ex-dividend prices. Over the trading interval, existing holdings gain from the riskless account and from capital-price changes. In addition, shares of asset receive in cash dividends. If this cash remains in the portfolio and changes of holdings are financed internally, the self-financing portfolio equation isRebalancing does not add a separate source of wealth: the cost of purchasing one holding is paid by selling another or by using the cash account. This is why one must specify the gains equation, rather than infer self-financing solely by differentiating the marked-to-market identity. The dividends are reinvested rather than withdrawn as consumption.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The marked-to-market value of the current holdings is . In a self-financing portfolio, purchases are paid for by sales within the portfolio, so rebalancing itself changes no net wealth. Asset price changes contribute , and nonnegative consumption removes from wealth. HenceThe holdings must be predictable and stochastically integrable. The second identity is the self-financing definition with withdrawals; it is not obtained by incorrectly setting the changes in the holdings themselves to zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Apply the Itô product rule and the quadratic covariation rule for a stochastic integral. The finite variation consumption term has zero quadratic covariation with , soUsing and the wealth equation,Thus the deflated wealth equation with consumption isNo finite variation assumption on is needed: the self-financing equation and the stochastic-integral quadratic covariation rule already incorporate the portfolio's financing constraint.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the usual normalization , finite deterministic initial wealth , positive state-price density, and nonnegative consumption. The deflated asset prices are local martingales, so predictable stochastic integrability makes a zero-starting local martingale. Integrating part (b) givesA nonnegative local martingale is a supermartingale: localize to martingales, apply Conditional Fatou lemma, and obtain the conditional expectation inequality and integrability. Therefore , and hence , are supermartingales. In particular,This is supermartingale control of deflated consumption gains. Nonnegative consumption is essential to the lower bound; it is the ordinary meaning of a consumption rate here. Wealth nonnegativity alone would not supply that bound if arbitrary signed cash flows were allowed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The supermartingale conclusion givesDiscard the nonnegative terminal-wealth term and let . The cumulative deflated consumption increases, so monotone convergence theorem yields the state-price budget constraintThe normalization is relevant: with the right side is ; with random integrable initial deflated wealth its expectation is the unconditional budget bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 40 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Wealth and admissibility. The dollar holding earns the risky return, while earns the continuous-time bank account return. Removing consumption therefore givesHere is a dollar amount, not a number of shares; the number of shares is . Both controls must use available information: take predictable and progressively measurable, withalmost surely on every finite interval. Require a well-defined objective and an admissible trading strategy satisfying . At zero portfolio wealth this excludes continued risky gambling or positive consumption. The state-price budget constraint rules out doubling strategies. Throughout the diffusion calculations take , positive discount , positive decay , and finite value; degeneracies are discussed where they affect the conclusions.
Satisfaction and dynamic programming. Write the consumption satisfaction stock asThe product rule gives, almost everywhere in time,This state is a finite-variation process, so it has no quadratic covariation with portfolio wealth. Applying the Itô formula to the discounted value function over a short interval, then using dynamic programming, gives the interior HJB equationAssuming , completing the square givesThe last supremum is zero if and infinite otherwise. Thus the gradient constraint for unbounded consumption is , and wherever the inequality is strict. Since there is no direct penalty for a very large consumption rate, an active boundary can involve singular consumption control. In that relaxed interpretation the HJB equation isWith ordinary rate controls, this describes the supremum and its limiting transfer policy; it does not promise that an instantaneous transfer is attained by a finite rate.
Power reduction. An additive constant in the utility function only adds a control-independent constant divided by to the value, so normalize . Put and for . Scaling portfolio wealth, consumption satisfaction and the controls by the same positive number gives the wealth-to-satisfaction reductionConsequently the reduced HJB equation isIn the strict waiting region the first expression vanishes and consumption is zero. On a transfer region the second vanishes; integrating it gives . This reflects preservation of during an instantaneous wealth-to-satisfaction transfer.
Why a waiting threshold is expected, and its qualification. The gradient constraint for unbounded consumption compares the benefit of increasing consumption satisfaction with the opportunity cost of spending financial portfolio wealth. When consumption satisfaction is already large relative to cash, waiting lets consumption satisfaction decay while financial portfolio wealth earns returns; consuming immediately can be wasteful. Homogeneity makes the comparison depend only on . For fixed , joint concavity of the value function makes concave in financial portfolio wealth . It is nondecreasing because an immediate transfer can reproduce any smaller financial allocation. Consequently its derivative is nonnegative and nonincreasing in : a strict waiting region, if present, starts at zero financial portfolio wealth and ends at a single transfer boundary. Homogeneity makes the corresponding boundary a ratio . In the usual finite-boundary regime this gives for , and transfers push a larger ratio down towards . The condition is a comparison of marginal values, not the ordinary formula : current utility function here depends on consumption satisfaction, not on current consumption.
A positive threshold is not guaranteed by the printed hypotheses alone. A useful sufficient local test illustrates the intended argument. Let . At zero portfolio wealth,Starting with a small extra portfolio wealth , holding it in the continuous-time bank account until a fixed time , then transferring it into consumption satisfaction, has right derivative in at zero equal toTherefore, if , the portfolio wealth marginal value is strictly larger than the consumption satisfaction marginal value at zero. With the usual continuity of marginal values, there is a positive interval on which the gradient constraint for unbounded consumption is strict. The fixed-total-resource concavity argument then gives the threshold structure.
For a concrete counterexample to an unconditional positive threshold, take , , , and . There is zero market price of risk. The relaxed value isIndeed , , and the optimized waiting residual, after division by , isbecause and the integrand is decreasing. The Itô formula gives an upper bound by , while transferring all portfolio wealth into consumption satisfaction over intervals tending to zero attains that bound in the limit. Hence the transfer boundary is in this example. The positive-threshold explanation needs a parameter regime supporting a genuine waiting region. For , even the zero-wealth value is finite only if ; otherwise decaying consumption satisfaction gives value .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 40 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Available portfolio wealth and the ruin boundary. Put , the constant interest payment on the fixed loan. The loan principal is already included in available portfolio wealth; it is not a growing portfolio holding. ThereforeIn particular the interest outflow is , not . Writing would instead give net portfolio wealth drift , which explains the distinction.
Let denote the ruin time, to avoid confusing it with a fixed terminal horizon. The objective stops at ; consequently the absorbing boundary is , without an obligation to keep financing the loan after ruin. Dynamic programming gives, for ,For increasing strictly concave value, put and use inverse marginal utility . The optimal controls and the optimized HJB equation arewhere . For CRRA utility with , write and . Then
Dualization and the printed constant. Use the convex wealth-variable Legendre dualAt an interior maximizing portfolio wealth, , and . The dual HJB equation is the linear Euler differential equationA trial power givesDirect substitution givesThe PDF prints an additional factor before in its definition of . That printed definition is inconsistent with its own identity for . The expression above is the one used here; assume this corrected .
Solution when . Assume positive discount , nonzero , and . Let and be the two roots of :Since , . Put . For , the general interior solution isThe appropriate large-wealth condition is the Merton consumption-investment problem boundIndeed any original control consumes in the debt-free comparison model until ruin, and . Dualizing this bound gives . Because , convexity and this upper bound force as .
At the other endpoint portfolio wealth reaches zero. If , the dual ruin boundary with debt service requiresSolving these two equations givesFor , , and for , , so the quantity defining is positive in either case. These formulas determine the entire value. For each , choose the unique satisfyingThenBoth terms in the bracket are positive, even when and . Thus , decreases from infinity to zero as increases, and the portfolio wealth inversion really is unique. The extended dual is continuously differentiable and convex.
There is no additional condition . In factAvailable portfolio wealth is killed at zero; the portfolio can have a nonzero limiting volatility immediately before ruin. Imposing a reflecting-boundary or zero-curvature condition would solve a different problem.
For , the linear forcing resonates with the root . Put . The dual and boundary constants instead areExtend by zero for . Hereand the controls remain and , with .
Verification and transversality. The candidate is nonnegative, increasing, strictly concave and zero at ruin. Its HJB equation makes the discounted value plus accrued utility a local supermartingale for every admissible control, and a local martingale for the stated feedback. Localization at positive lower and finite upper portfolio wealth levels gives the finite-horizon comparison. The investment value transversality condition follows from the same debt-free bound: applying the Itô formula to and maximizing its risky term givesThe nonnegative consumption and debt-service drifts only decrease this bound. Thus the expected terminal candidate tends to zero. The feedback has at most linear growth, including a finite limit as portfolio wealth decreases to zero; stopping it at ruin gives an admissible policy. Letting localization levels and then the horizon tend to their limits proves that the candidate is the value, rather than just a formal dual solution. If , the absorbing-debt boundary disappears and the ordinary Merton consumption-investment problem formula is recovered.
Zero market price of risk. With and , the dual equation is first order. If , the preceding formulas remain valid with for , and the logarithmic formula with for ; there is no term and . The same boundary and transversality argument verifies this deterministic consumption policy.
The remaining finite-value case has and . Put , andThe correct convex dual and its corresponding value areThe two value branches have the same value and derivative at . Above , hold no stock and consume ; the surplus over grows at rate . If , the lower branch is attained by zero stock holding and constant consumption : portfolio wealth solves until ruin, and direct integration gives .
If and , the lower branch is a supremum attained in a limit of increasingly rapid fair stock lotteries between zero and , followed by the upper-branch policy on success. The success probability tends to and the fixed service cost during the lottery tends to zero. This is possible because unrestricted dollar holdings in the nonzero-volatility stock produce a fair Brownian motion exposure even when its excess drift is zero. The supporting linear branch has optimized waiting residual ; the fast lotteries, rather than a finite feedback optimizer, supply the missing control limit. The piecewise candidate is concave, has nonpositive waiting residual everywhere, and the preceding moment bound still supplies an upper-bound verification. This degenerate case can have a supremum without an ordinary maximizing strategy.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 40 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Pricing kernel and replication. In the nondegenerate Black-Scholes model, put and normalize the state-price density by . The process isThe density changes probability to the risk-neutral measure. Under that measure is a Brownian motion and the stock drift is . Thus an integrable contingent claim has time- priceIn the usual augmented natural Brownian filtration, the Brownian martingale representation theorem supplies a replicating strategy; this is the complete market assumption. For a nonnegative admissible trading strategy without intermediate consumption, the state-price budget constraint is , with equality for a fully invested replicated claim. In particular
Feasibility and the largest slope. First take the intended regime , , , and the usual nonnegative portfolio wealth constraint. The terminal wealth floor isFor any feasible claim the state-price budget constraint impliesTherefore . Conversely, when , hold shares and put the remaining in the continuous-time bank account. Its terminal portfolio wealth isHenceAt equality, has cost exactly . Positivity of the state-price density forces almost surely: any strict improvement would cost more. Invest all initial portfolio wealth in shares and hold them until .
Optimal payoff below the feasibility limit. For the floor is strictly positive, and its price is strictly less than . Assume the utility function is increasing, differentiable and strictly concave, satisfies the Inada conditions, and has the integrability needed for the finite-budget optimization. These are the usual hypotheses implicit in using inverse marginal utility. For each positive multiplier , maximizeseparately in every state. Its derivative decreases through zero at , so the floored marginal utility optimizer isThe multiplier is characterized byUnder the stated integrability hypotheses the left side is continuous and decreasing, tends to the floor cost as , and tends to infinity as . It is strictly decreasing wherever it exceeds the floor cost: on the event where the inverse-marginal-utility payoff exceeds the floor, a larger multiplier strictly reduces that payoff. Therefore the budget determines a unique finite multiplier. For CRRA utility the inverse marginal utility is ; lognormal moments provide the needed integrability.
For completeness, pointwise maximality gives, for any feasible competing terminal portfolio wealth ,Taking expectations and using proves optimality. Strict concavity gives uniqueness of the terminal claim. Its price processis nonnegative and starts from ; claim replication therefore turns the payoff optimizer into an admissible portfolio.
What the missing interest-rate hypothesis changes. The PDF does not explicitly assume or give the utility and admissibility hypotheses above. These omissions matter. At , under nonnegative admissibility, the largest feasible slope remains : for larger slopes the positive-part floor costs strictly more than , since has support . But every already gives floor cost exactly , so the only feasible terminal claim is . There is no spare budget for an inverse-marginal-utility improvement. For example , and CRRA utility make for every finite . The prescribed positive finite multiplier then does not exist.
For negative , nonnegative admissibility requires the effective floor . Define its costThis is continuous and convex. For it equals , exceeding below the endpoint. At , and . Above that endpoint the lognormal stock gives strict convexity, and . Thus there is a unique second root of , the feasible slopes are , and the largest is . Equivalently, for the floor price is times the European call option price with strike . At the upper endpoint replicate ; in the interval with strict budget slack the same floored marginal utility optimizer applies with .
If instead portfolio wealth may be negative and utility is defined on all real portfolio wealth, the floor itself has its affine replication cost: at every slope is feasible, and at negative every is feasible. There is then no largest finite slope. The intended stock-only endpoint and strict-slack optimizer use positive interest and standard nonnegative admissibility.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The mark-to-market value of holdings in the asset-price vector is the dot product . A self-financing strategy pays for every rebalancing from within the portfolio. Over a short interval, the gains on the currently held assets are , while consumption removes units of wealth. ThereforeThe holdings are predictable and integrable against the price semimartingale; the consumption rate is nonnegative and suitably measurable. This is the continuous-time self-financing-with-consumption convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 6 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the state-price density as a positive local martingale deflator, so each component of is a local martingale. The Itô product rule and the wealth equation giveThe consumption term has finite variation, and the quadratic covariation of a stochastic integral satisfies . Also . Regrouping the terms therefore givesThe differential before is necessary: the first term is a stochastic gain, not the level of the deflated portfolio. It is missing in the printed display. This is the deflated wealth equation with consumption.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 6 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The integral against the local-martingale vector is a local martingale, provided the predictable holdings are stochastically integrable. Integrating part (b) givesBoth and the cumulative deflated consumption are nonnegative. Hence . With the usual finite deterministic initial capital, the shifted processis a nonnegative local martingale, and is therefore a supermartingale. For completeness, a localizing sequence turns it into true martingales; conditional Fatou lemma for their nonnegative stopped values gives the supermartingale inequality and ordinary Fatou gives integrability at each time. Subtracting the initial constant provesThis is supermartingale control of deflated consumption gains. It uses as well as ; an unrestricted stochastic integral is not necessarily a true supermartingale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 6 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Part (c) gives . Since , its integrated identity impliesfor every finite . The cumulative consumption increases with , so the monotone convergence theorem yieldsThis is the infinite-horizon state-price budget constraint. No terminal-wealth convergence or vanishing assumption is needed for this inequality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 6 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Concavity gives the supporting-tangent inequalityMultiply by the discount factor and use the first-order condition . This gives the pointwise marginal-utility verification of optimal consumption inequalityApply the budget inequality from part (d) to the competing admissible strategy, and use equality for the proposed one:The two weighted consumption integrals are finite, so their difference is integrable. Under the usual positive discount-rate assumption , the utility integrals are also integrable: for a finite upper bound , and . Integrating the tangent inequality and taking expectations therefore givesEconomically, both consumers face the same state-price budget, and the candidate spends it exactly where its discounted marginal utility equals the state price. This is utility duality with martingale deflators in its consumption form.
A positive , or another hypothesis making the infinite-horizon objectives well defined and permitting this integration, is needed. The printed question does not specify the sign of . Bounded utility alone does not ensure that an undiscounted infinite time integral exists: a bounded integrand can have both infinite positive and negative parts. Thus the conclusion is established under the standard discount convention , and also whenever the displayed objectives satisfy the stated integrability conditions; without either convention the literal infinite-horizon comparison need not be a defined mathematical expression.
This can occur within an admissible financial model, not just for an abstract bounded integrand. Take and . Choose a deterministic smooth nonnegative with successive unit-length plateaus alternating between zero and the integer , and connect them over intervals whose lengths have finite sum. Then : the high-plateau contributions sum to and the transition integrand is bounded by . SetThe bank account is a positive deterministic Itô process and , so is a state-price density. Holding bank units finances consumption with nonnegative wealth and exact budget equality. Also . Nevertheless every zero plateau contributes to the utility integral, while each sufficiently high plateau contributes a fixed positive amount. Both its negative and positive parts are infinite, so the undiscounted objective is undefined. This establishes why the missing discount or objective-integrability hypothesis is substantive.