Avanzi et al. (2016) recently studied an optimal dividend problem where dividends are paid both periodically and continuously with different transaction costs. In the Brownian model with Poissonian periodic dividend payment opportunities, they showed that the optimal strategy is either of the pure-continuous, pure-periodic, or hybrid-barrier type. In this paper, we generalize the results of their previous study to the dual (spectrally positive Lévy) model. The optimal strategy is again of the hybrid-barrier type and can be concisely expressed using the scale function. These results are confirmed through a sequence of numerical experiments.
This paper studies de Finetti's optimal dividend problem with capital injection. We confirm the optimality of a double barrier strategy when the underlying risk model follows a Lévy process that may have positive and negative jumps. The main result in this paper is a generalization of Theorem 3 in Avram et al.(2007), which is the spectrally negative case, and Theorem 3.1 in Bayraktar et al.(2013), which is the spectrally positive case. In contrast with the spectrally one-sided cases, double barrier strategies cannot be handled by using scale functions to obtain some properties of the expected …
Recent work of Dupire and Carr and Lee has highlighted the importance of understanding the Skorokhod embedding originally proposed by Root for the model-independent hedging of variance options. Root's work shows that there exists a barrier from which one may define a stopping time which solves the Skorokhod embedding problem. This construction has the remarkable property, proved by Rost, that it minimizes the variance of the stopping time among all solutions. In this work, we prove a characterization of Root's barrier in terms of the solution to a variational inequality, and we give an alterna…
In this paper we consider the De Finetti's optimal dividend and capital injection problem under a Markov additive model. We assume that the surplus process before dividends and capital injections follows a spectrally positive Markov additive process. Dividend payments are made only at the jump times of an independent Poisson process. Capitals are required to be injected whenever needed to ensure a non-negative surplus process to avoid bankruptcy. Our purpose is to characterize the optimal periodic dividend and capital injection strategy that maximizes the expected total discounted dividends su…
We revisit the classical singular control problem of minimizing running and controlling costs. The problem arises in inventory control, as well as in healthcare management and mathematical finance. Existing studies have shown the optimality of a barrier strategy when driven by the Brownian motion or Lévy processes with one-side jumps. Under the assumption that the running cost function is convex, we show the optimality of a barrier strategy for a general class of Lévy processes.
For a broad class of nonlinear systems, we formulate the problem of guaranteeing safety with optimality under constraints. Specifically, we define controlled safety for differential inclusions with constraints on the states and the inputs. Through the use of nonsmooth analysis tools, we show that a continuous optimal control law can be selected from a set-valued constraint capturing the system constraints and conditions guaranteeing safety using control barrier functions. Our results guarantee optimality and safety via a continuous state-feedback law designed using nonsmooth control barrier fu…
We consider a class of two-sided singular control problems. A controller either increases or decreases a given spectrally negative Levy process so as to minimize the total costs comprising of the running and control costs where the latter is proportional to the size of control. We provide a sufficient condition for the optimality of a double barrier strategy, and in particular show that it holds when the running cost function is convex. Using the fluctuation theory of doubly reflected Levy processes, we express concisely the optimal strategy as well as the value function using the scale functi…
In this paper, we investigate the problem of optimal strategies of dividend and reinsurance under the Cramér-Lundberg risk model embedded with the thinning-dependence structure which was firstly introduced by Wang and Yuen (2005), subject to the optimality criteria of maximizing the expected accumulated discounted dividends paid until ruin. To enhance the practical relevance of the optimal dividend and reinsurance problem, non-cheap reinsurance is considered and transaction costs and taxes are imposed on dividends, which converts our optimization problem into a mixed classical-impulse control …
This paper studies the bailout optimal dividend problem with regime switching under the constraint that dividend payments can be made only at the arrival times of an independent Poisson process while capital can be injected continuously in time. We show the optimality of the regime-modulated Parisian-classical reflection strategy when the underlying risk model follows a general spectrally negative Markov additive process. In order to verify the optimality, first we study an auxiliary problem driven by a single spectrally negative \lev process with a final payoff at an exponential terminal time…
We study the dual model with capital injection under the additional condition that the dividend strategy is absolutely continuous. We consider a refraction-reflection strategy that pays dividends at the maximal rate whenever the surplus is above a certain threshold, while capital is injected so that it stays positive. The resulting controlled surplus process becomes the spectrally positive version of the refracted-reflected process recently studied by Pérez and Yamazaki (2015). We study various fluctuation identities of this process and prove the optimality of the refraction-reflection strateg…
In this paper, we revisit the optimal periodic dividend problem, in which dividend payments can only be made at the jump times of an independent Poisson process. In the dual (spectrally positive Lévy) model, recent results have shown the optimality of a periodic barrier strategy, which pays dividends at Poissonian dividend-decision times, if and only if the surplus is above some level. In this paper, we show the optimality of this strategy for a spectrally negative Lévy process whose dual has a completely monotone Lévy density. The optimal strategies and value functions are concisely written i…
Maximising dividends is one classical stability criterion in actuarial risk theory. Motivated by the fact that dividends are paid periodically in real life, $\textit{periodic}$ dividend strategies were recently introduced (Albrecher, Gerber and Shiu, 2011). In this paper, we incorporate fixed transaction costs into the model and study the optimal periodic dividend strategy with fixed transaction costs for spectrally negative Lévy processes. The value function of a periodic $(b_u,b_l)$ strategy is calculated by means of exiting identities and Itô's excusion when the surplus process is of unboun…
Some direct transcription methods can fail to converge, e.g. when there are singular arcs. We recently introduced a convergent direct transcription method for optimal control problems, called the penalty-barrier finite element method (PBF). PBF converges under very weak assumptions on the problem instance. PBF avoids the ringing between collocation points, for example, by avoiding collocation entirely. Instead, equality path constraint residuals are forced to zero everywhere by an integral quadratic penalty term. We highlight conceptual differences between collocation- and penalty-type direct …
We present and analyze a new generalized Frank-Wolfe method for the composite optimization problem $(P):{\min}_{x\in\mathbb{R}^n}\; f(\mathsf{A} x) + h(x)$, where $f$ is a $θ$-logarithmically-homogeneous self-concordant barrier, $\mathsf{A}$ is a linear operator and the function $h$ has bounded domain but is possibly non-smooth. We show that our generalized Frank-Wolfe method requires $O((δ_0 + θ+ R_h)\ln(δ_0) + (θ+ R_h)^2/\varepsilon)$ iterations to produce an $\varepsilon$-approximate solution, where $δ_0$ denotes the initial optimality gap and $R_h$ is the variation of $h$ on its domain. Th…
We consider a version of the stochastic inventory control problem for a spectrally positive Lévy demand process, in which the inventory can only be replenished at independent exponential times. We show the optimality of a periodic barrier replenishment policy that restocks any shortage below a certain threshold at each replenishment opportunity. The optimal policies and value functions are concisely written in terms of the scale functions. Numerical results are also provided.
Optimal Parameter Adaptation for Safety-Critical Control via Safe Barrier Bayesian Optimization
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China（电子科技大学）；University of Exeter（埃克塞特大学）；Australian AI Institute（澳大利亚人工智能研究所）；University of Technology Sydney（悉尼科技大学）；Hunan University（湖南大学）；China University of Mining and Technology（中国矿业大学）；Southeast University（东南大学）
The first motivation of our paper is to explore further the idea that, in risk control problems, it may be profitable to base decisions both on the position of the underlying process Xt and on its supremum Xt := sup 0$\le$s$\le$t Xs. Strongly connected to Azema-Yor/generalized draw-down/trailing stop time (see [AY79]), this framework provides a natural unification of draw-down and classic first passage times. We illustrate here the potential of this unified framework by solving a variation of the De Finetti problem of maximizing expected discounted cumulative dividends/consumption gained under…
This paper studies the bail-out optimal dividend problem with regime switching under the constraint that the cumulative dividend strategy is absolutely continuous. We confirm the optimality of the regime-modulated refraction-reflection strategy when the underlying risk model follows a general spectrally negative Markov additive process. To verify the conjecture of a barrier type optimal control, we first introduce and study an auxiliary problem with the final payoff at an exponential terminal time and characterize the optimal threshold explicitly using fluctuation identities of the refracted-r…
Optimal Reinsurance-Dividend Strategy with Fixed Transaction Costs in a Regime-Switching Brownian Risk Model: A Viscosity Solution to the Impulse Control Problem
Fujian Normal University（福建师范大学）；The Hong Kong Polytechnic University（香港理工大学）；Xi’an Jiaotong University（西安交通大学）
This paper considers the synthesis of optimal safe controllers based on density functions. We present an algorithm for robust constrained optimal control synthesis using the duality relationship between the density function and the value function. The density function follows the Liouville equation and is the dual of the value function, which satisfies Bellman's optimality principle. Thanks to density functions, constraints over the distribution of states, such as safety constraints, can be posed straightforwardly in an optimal control problem. The constrained optimal control problem is then s…
