Deflated wealth equation with consumption Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A self-financing investor with consumption satisfies and . The Itô product rule and give the displayed equation. For a positive local martingale deflator , the first term is a stochastic integral against the vector of deflated asset-price local martingales, not their current levels.
Deflator-based claim replication Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-07
In a one-factor market whose filtration is the usual augmentation of the natural Brownian filtration, with nonzero spot volatility and local martingale deflator , the Brownian martingale representation theorem constructs a nonnegative replicating strategy for a bounded nonnegative contingent claim. The minimal initial cost among nonnegative self-financing portfolios is .
Market price of risk Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
In a one-factor diffusion market, the market price of risk is the excess drift per unit spot volatility. It is the coefficient in the Brownian motion part of a local martingale deflator, .
Assume the usual positive initial asset values. The coefficients determine a unique normalized local martingale deflator. The state-price density and local deflator distinction matters here: calling it a state-price density uses the local convention, while true expectation pricing needs an additional qualification, addressed below.
Let and be local martingales, with . The Brownian martingale representation theorem says that every local martingale in the usual natural Brownian filtration is continuous and is a stochastic integral against . Applying it to , and dividing by the positive finite-variation account, forces
for a locally square-integrable predictable . The Itô product rule for has drift
It must vanish. Since are positive, this yields
Conversely this drift choice makes both and local martingales. Continuity and strict positivity of make bounded along each path on every finite time interval, so its pathwise square integral is finite. The unique linear SDE solution is
Uniqueness follows from the forced drift and diffusion coefficients and uniqueness of this linear stochastic differential equation.
Continuity alone does not make the density a true martingale. For a true equivalent martingale measure, the stochastic exponential must have expectation one, for example under the Novikov condition on each horizon. True martingale pricing of all desired deflated payoffs also requires the relevant integrability. These stronger conclusions do not follow just from pathwise continuity.
An explicit counterexample to the stronger reading uses a three-dimensional Bessel process with and , which is a positive strong solution in the Brownian filtration. Take and . Then , and are continuous and . The unique local candidate is , with . The reciprocal three-dimensional Bessel strict local martingale is not a true martingale. To verify the loss of expectation, use the standard Bessel transition density
Integrating gives for , where is the standard normal cumulative distribution function. A true pricing density for the constant bank account would have expectation one. Hence the printed hypotheses establish the local deflator statement, while a true-density reading needs an additional condition and is false as stated.
Here the bank account is continuous and of finite variation, but for its rate is . This is integrable at zero, so the account itself is well defined. The stock satisfies . The previous continuity hypothesis on the rate no longer holds at the initial time.
Suppose a positive normalized state-price density existed; even a local martingale deflator would suffice for a contradiction. Then would be a continuous local martingale by the Brownian martingale representation theorem. Dividing by the positive continuous account gives continuous , with , and
The Itô product rule for forces its drift to vanish, so for almost every positive time. Continuity and imply that each path has a positive interval on which . But then
contradicting the local square-integrability required for the stochastic integral. Thus
This is the singular initial market-price-of-risk obstruction: the necessary market price of risk is , whose squared integral diverges at zero. On an interval starting at a strictly positive time this particular obstruction disappears; the initial-time normalization is essential.
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 give
The consumption term has finite variation, and the quadratic covariation of a stochastic integral satisfies . Also . Regrouping the terms therefore gives
The 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.
Use positive initial asset prices and the usual augmentation of the natural Brownian filtration. Define the market price of risk
Continuity and strict positivity of imply on every finite horizon almost surely, because each path has a positive minimum of there. Hence the strictly positive stochastic exponential
is defined and has and . The Itô product rule gives
so it is a local martingale deflator.
For uniqueness, let be any normalized strictly positive local martingale deflator. The Brownian martingale representation theorem makes a continuous local martingale with a Brownian motion integral representation. Dividing by therefore gives . The vanishing drift of requires , so . This scalar linear stochastic differential equation has exactly the exponential solution above, proving the normalized local martingale deflator is unique.
The assumptions do not make deterministically bounded: need not be bounded away from zero uniformly over outcomes. Thus a true martingale density or Novikov condition is not inferred here; the required conclusion is local.
Fix the maturity horizon. Since is a nonnegative local martingale and is bounded, : and . The bounded nonnegative payoff thus makes integrable. Set
The Brownian martingale representation theorem yields , using its locally square-integrable version for an integrable terminal random variable. The Itô formula for gives
Choose the replicating strategy
Its self-financing portfolio equation has exactly the displayed drift and diffusion, because . All coefficients are locally integrable after stopping; the holdings are predictable in the augmented natural Brownian filtration. This construction has and , so it is an admissible replicating strategy under the question's nonnegative-wealth convention.
For any other nonnegative self-financing portfolio replicating the same payoff, part (b) implies . The constructed strategy attains equality, since and in the augmented natural Brownian filtration. Hence
This is deflator-based claim replication; it does not require upgrading the local martingale deflator to a true martingale density.
A local martingale deflator makes both and local martingales. Since the filtration is generated by , the martingale representation theorem and the finite-variation drift forced by give
for a continuous adapted , where . Applying the Itô product rule to gives drift
It vanishes exactly when
Singular initial market-price-of-risk obstruction Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
A positive normalized continuous local martingale deflator requires a locally square-integrable Brownian diffusion coefficient. If the forced market price of risk is , the coefficient has magnitude . Since , continuity makes its squared integral diverge near zero. The bank account can nevertheless exist because itself is integrable; finite integrated interest is weaker than square-integrability of the required risk compensation.
A local martingale deflator only forces deflated asset prices to be local martingales. True expectation pricing requires additional martingale and integrability properties. In a Brownian one-factor market, continuity of the coefficients ensures a pathwise finite market-price-of-risk square integral, but not expectation-one of its stochastic exponential. The reciprocal three-dimensional Bessel strict local martingale gives a counterexample to promoting this local conclusion automatically.