Numerical Methods for Optimal Stochastic Control in Finance

Numerical Methods for Optimal Stochastic Control in Finance
Author: Zhuliang Chen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN: 9780494432501

In this thesis, we develop partial differential equation (PDE) based numerical methods to solve certain optimal stochastic control problems in finance. The value of a stochastic control problem is normally identical to the viscosity solution of a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation or an HJB variational inequality. The HJB equation corresponds to the case when the controls are bounded while the HJB variational inequality corresponds to the unbounded control case. As a result, the solution to the stochastic control problem can be computed by solving the corresponding HJB equation/variational inequality as long as the convergence to the viscosity solution is guaranteed. We develop a unified numerical scheme based on a semi-Lagrangian timestepping for solving both the bounded and unbounded stochastic control problems as well as the discrete cases where the controls are allowed only at discrete times. Our scheme has the following useful properties: it is unconditionally stable; it can be shown rigorously to converge to the viscosity solution; it can easily handle various stochastic models such as jump diffusion and regime-switching models; it avoids Policy type iterations at each mesh node at each timestep which is required by the standard implicit finite difference methods. In this thesis, we demonstrate the properties of our scheme by valuing natural gas storage facilities---a bounded stochastic control problem, and pricing variable annuities with guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits (GMWBs)---an unbounded stochastic control problem. In particular, we use an impulse control formulation for the unbounded stochastic control problem and show that the impulse control formulation is more general than the singular control formulation previously used to price GMWB contracts.

Optimal Stochastic Control, Stochastic Target Problems, and Backward SDE

Optimal Stochastic Control, Stochastic Target Problems, and Backward SDE
Author: Nizar Touzi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2012-09-25
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1461442869

This book collects some recent developments in stochastic control theory with applications to financial mathematics. We first address standard stochastic control problems from the viewpoint of the recently developed weak dynamic programming principle. A special emphasis is put on the regularity issues and, in particular, on the behavior of the value function near the boundary. We then provide a quick review of the main tools from viscosity solutions which allow to overcome all regularity problems. We next address the class of stochastic target problems which extends in a nontrivial way the standard stochastic control problems. Here the theory of viscosity solutions plays a crucial role in the derivation of the dynamic programming equation as the infinitesimal counterpart of the corresponding geometric dynamic programming equation. The various developments of this theory have been stimulated by applications in finance and by relevant connections with geometric flows. Namely, the second order extension was motivated by illiquidity modeling, and the controlled loss version was introduced following the problem of quantile hedging. The third part specializes to an overview of Backward stochastic differential equations, and their extensions to the quadratic case.​

Applications of Stochastic Optimal Control to Economics and Finance

Applications of Stochastic Optimal Control to Economics and Finance
Author: Salvatore Federico
Publisher:
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre:
ISBN: 9783039360581

In a world dominated by uncertainty, modeling and understanding the optimal behavior of agents is of the utmost importance. Many problems in economics, finance, and actuarial science naturally require decision makers to undertake choices in stochastic environments. Examples include optimal individual consumption and retirement choices, optimal management of portfolios and risk, hedging, optimal timing issues in pricing American options, and investment decisions. Stochastic control theory provides the methods and results to tackle all such problems. This book is a collection of the papers published in the Special Issue "Applications of Stochastic Optimal Control to Economics and Finance", which appeared in the open access journal Risks in 2019. It contains seven peer-reviewed papers dealing with stochastic control models motivated by important questions in economics and finance. Each model is rigorously mathematically funded and treated, and the numerical methods are employed to derive the optimal solution. The topics of the book's chapters range from optimal public debt management to optimal reinsurance, real options in energy markets, and optimal portfolio choice in partial and complete information settings. From a mathematical point of view, techniques and arguments of dynamic programming theory, filtering theory, optimal stopping, one-dimensional diffusions and multi-dimensional jump processes are used.

Stochastic Control, Numerical Methods, and Machine Learning in Finance and Insurance

Stochastic Control, Numerical Methods, and Machine Learning in Finance and Insurance
Author: Xiang Gao
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

We consider three problems motivated by mathematical and computational finance which utilize forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) and other techniques from stochastic control. Firstly, we review the case of post-retirement annuitization with labor income in framework of optimal stochastic control and optimal stopping. We apply the martingale approach to a Cobb-Douglas type utility maximization problem. We have proved the theoretical existence and uniqueness of an optimal solution. Several analyses are made based on the simulations for the optimal stopping choice and strategies. Secondly, We review the convolution method in backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) framework and study the application of convolution method to Heston model. We provide an easy representation of the Heston characteristic function that avoids the discontinuities caused by branch rotations in the logarithm of complex functions and is able to be applied in calibration. We proposed two convolution schemes to the Heston model and provide the error analysis that shows the error orders of discretization and truncation. We review two error control methods and improve the accuracy on the boundaries. Numerical results comparing to a Fourier method and an integration method is provided. Thirdly, we review the forecasting problem in bond markets. Our data include both U.S. Treasuries and coupon bonds from twelve corporate issuers. We apply the arbitrage-free model in predicting the yields and the prices of coupon bonds in a sequential model with the Kalman filter, the extended Kalman filter and the particle filter. We implement the arbitrage penalty and obtain the optimal dynamic parameterization using deep neural networks. The purpose of the prediction is to examine the effect of arbitrage penalty and the forecasting performance on different time horizons. Our result shows that the arbitrage-free penalty has improving performance on short time period but downgrading performance on long time period. We provide analysis on the prediction errors, the distribution of errors, and the average excess return. The predicted bond prices shows the prediction errors have non-Gaussian distribution, excess kurtosis, and fat tails. Future works will be from two aspects, refine the importance sampling by non-parametric distribution and refine the term structure model with jump process and credit risk.

Numerical Methods for Stochastic Control Problems in Continuous Time

Numerical Methods for Stochastic Control Problems in Continuous Time
Author: Harold Kushner
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2013-11-27
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 146130007X

Stochastic control is a very active area of research. This monograph, written by two leading authorities in the field, has been updated to reflect the latest developments. It covers effective numerical methods for stochastic control problems in continuous time on two levels, that of practice and that of mathematical development. It is broadly accessible for graduate students and researchers.

Numerical Methods for Optimal Control Problems

Numerical Methods for Optimal Control Problems
Author: Maurizio Falcone
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2019-01-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030019594

This work presents recent mathematical methods in the area of optimal control with a particular emphasis on the computational aspects and applications. Optimal control theory concerns the determination of control strategies for complex dynamical systems, in order to optimize some measure of their performance. Started in the 60's under the pressure of the "space race" between the US and the former USSR, the field now has a far wider scope, and embraces a variety of areas ranging from process control to traffic flow optimization, renewable resources exploitation and management of financial markets. These emerging applications require more and more efficient numerical methods for their solution, a very difficult task due the huge number of variables. The chapters of this volume give an up-to-date presentation of several recent methods in this area including fast dynamic programming algorithms, model predictive control and max-plus techniques. This book is addressed to researchers, graduate students and applied scientists working in the area of control problems, differential games and their applications.

Continuous-time Stochastic Control and Optimization with Financial Applications

Continuous-time Stochastic Control and Optimization with Financial Applications
Author: Huyên Pham
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2009-05-28
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3540895000

Stochastic optimization problems arise in decision-making problems under uncertainty, and find various applications in economics and finance. On the other hand, problems in finance have recently led to new developments in the theory of stochastic control. This volume provides a systematic treatment of stochastic optimization problems applied to finance by presenting the different existing methods: dynamic programming, viscosity solutions, backward stochastic differential equations, and martingale duality methods. The theory is discussed in the context of recent developments in this field, with complete and detailed proofs, and is illustrated by means of concrete examples from the world of finance: portfolio allocation, option hedging, real options, optimal investment, etc. This book is directed towards graduate students and researchers in mathematical finance, and will also benefit applied mathematicians interested in financial applications and practitioners wishing to know more about the use of stochastic optimization methods in finance.