Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 40 2 a 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A direct exponential minimization construction of a bounded pricing kernel proves the reverse implication without using a course theorem. ConsiderBoundedness of makes finite, continuous, and differentiable. On every bounded set of , the exponential and its derivatives have deterministic bounds, so differentiation under expectation is justified.
We first prove coercivity: as . Otherwise there would be a sequence with along which stays bounded above. Pass to a subsequence with , . There are two cases.
If , choose with . The bound on gives on this event for all large . ThereforeIf instead almost surely, the portfolio condition forces , since . Hence , and the nonnegative exponential term again forces . Both cases contradict the chosen sequence.
A minimizing sequence is consequently bounded. It has a convergent subsequence, and continuity of gives a global minimizer . At a minimizer each directional derivative vanishes, soThusIf , then : the constructed pricing kernel is bounded and even bounded away from zero. The compactness, coercivity, and differentiation arguments above supply the needed proof rather than appealing to the fundamental theorem of asset pricing.