scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model☆

01 Dec 1971-Journal of Economic Theory (Academic Press)-Vol. 3, Iss: 4, pp 373-413
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors considered the continuous-time consumption-portfolio problem for an individual whose income is generated by capital gains on investments in assets with prices assumed to satisfy the geometric Brownian motion hypothesis, which implies that asset prices are stationary and lognormally distributed.
About: This article is published in Journal of Economic Theory.The article was published on 1971-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 4952 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Geometric Brownian motion & Intertemporal portfolio choice.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors derived the value and risk of aggregate human capital in a stochastic equilibrium model with Duffie-Epstein preferences, where the factors are the market, the capital share, and investment in human capital.
Abstract: This paper derives the value and risk of aggregate human capital in a stochastic equilibrium model with Duffie-Epstein preferences. A three-factor asset-pricing model is derived, where the factors are the market, the capital share, and investment in human capital. When the model is calibrated to match the historical ratio of wages to consumption in the United States, the weight of human capital in aggregate wealth is estimated to be about 93%, well above most previous estimates, and human capital's riskiness is lower than that of the market portfolio.

51 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate whether small perturbations of the market coefficient processes lead to small changes in the agent's optimal behavior derived from the solution of related utility-maximization problems.
Abstract: The effectiveness of utility-maximization techniques for portfolio management relies on our ability to estimate correctly the parameters of the dynamics of the underlying financial assets. In the setting of complete or incomplete financial markets, we investigate whether small perturbations of the market coefficient processes lead to small changes in the agent's optimal behavior derived from the solution of the related utility-maximization problems. Specifically, we identify the topologies on the parameter process space and the solution space under which utility-maximization is a continuous operation, and we provide a counterexample showing that our results are best possible, in a certain sense. A novel result about the structure of the solution of the utility-maximization problem where prices are modeled by continuous semimartingales is established as an offshoot of the proof of our central theorem.

51 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop general overtaking techniques for studying the asymptotic properties of portfolio policies optimal with respect to a terminal utility valuation, and show that for a restricted class of utility functions, the sequence of optimal constant (non-revised) portfolio policies formed as the horizon recedes into the future converges.

51 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a tractable dynamic framework for the joint determination of optimal consumption, portfolio holdings, health investment, and health insurance is proposed, which is consistent with the observed patterns of individual allocations and provides realistic estimates of the parameters that confirm the relevance of all the main characteristics of the model.
Abstract: Despite clear evidence of correlations between financial and medical statuses and decisions, most models treat financial and health-related choices separately. This article bridges this gap by proposing a tractable dynamic framework for the joint determination of optimal consumption, portfolio holdings, health investment, and health insurance. We solve for the optimal rules in closed form and capitalize on this tractability to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which separation between financial and health-related decisions is sensible, and of the pathways through which wealth and health determine allocations, welfare and other variables of interest such as expected longevity or the value of health. Furthermore we show that the model is consistent with the observed patterns of individual allocations and provide realistic estimates of the parameters that confirm the relevance of all the main characteristics of the model.

50 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a continuous-time optimal investment and the consumption decision of a constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) investor who faces proportional transaction costs and a finite time horizon were studied.
Abstract: This paper concerns continuous-time optimal investment and the consumption decision of a constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) investor who faces proportional transaction costs and a finite time horizon. In the no-consumption case, it has been studied by Liu and Loewenstein [Review of Financial Studies, 15 (2002), pp. 805-835] and Dai and Yi [J. Differential Equations, 246 (2009), pp. 1445-1469]. Mathematically, it is a singular stochastic control problem whose value function satisfies a parabolic variational inequality with gradient constraints. The problem gives rise to two free boundaries which stand for the optimal buying and selling strategies, respectively. We present an analytical approach to analyze the behaviors of free boundaries. The regularity of the value function is studied as well. Our approach is essentially based on the connection between singular control and optimal stopping, which is first revealed in the present problem.

50 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the combined problem of optimal portfolio selection and consumption rules for an individual in a continuous-time model was examined, where his income is generated by returns on assets and these returns or instantaneous "growth rates" are stochastic.
Abstract: OST models of portfolio selection have M been one-period models. I examine the combined problem of optimal portfolio selection and consumption rules for an individual in a continuous-time model whzere his income is generated by returns on assets and these returns or instantaneous "growth rates" are stochastic. P. A. Samuelson has developed a similar model in discrete-time for more general probability distributions in a companion paper [8]. I derive the optimality equations for a multiasset problem when the rate of returns are generated by a Wiener Brownian-motion process. A particular case examined in detail is the two-asset model with constant relative riskaversion or iso-elastic marginal utility. An explicit solution is also found for the case of constant absolute risk-aversion. The general technique employed can be used to examine a wide class of intertemporal economic problems under uncertainty. In addition to the Samuelson paper [8], there is the multi-period analysis of Tobin [9]. Phelps [6] has a model used to determine the optimal consumption rule for a multi-period example where income is partly generated by an asset with an uncertain return. Mirrless [5] has developed a continuous-time optimal consumption model of the neoclassical type with technical progress a random variable.

4,908 citations

Book
01 Jan 1965
TL;DR: This book should be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of probability theory.
Abstract: This book should be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of probability theory.

3,597 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the optimal consumption-investment problem for an investor whose utility for consumption over time is a discounted sum of single-period utilities, with the latter being constant over time and exhibiting constant relative risk aversion (power-law functions or logarithmic functions), is discussed.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the optimal consumption-investment problem for an investor whose utility for consumption over time is a discounted sum of single-period utilities, with the latter being constant over time and exhibiting constant relative risk aversion (power-law functions or logarithmic functions). It presents a generalization of Phelps' model to include portfolio choice and consumption. The explicit form of the optimal solution is derived for the special case of utility functions having constant relative risk aversion. The optimal portfolio decision is independent of time, wealth, and the consumption decision at each stage. Most analyses of portfolio selection, whether they are of the Markowitz–Tobin mean-variance or of more general type, maximize over one period. The chapter only discusses special and easy cases that suffice to illustrate the general principles involved and presents the lifetime model that reveals that investing for many periods does not itself introduce extra tolerance for riskiness at early or any stages of life.

2,369 citations

Book
17 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, a book on stochastic stability and control dealing with Liapunov function approach to study of Markov processes is presented, which is based on the work of this article.
Abstract: Book on stochastic stability and control dealing with Liapunov function approach to study of Markov processes

1,293 citations