In this paper we consider the optimal dividend problem for an insurance company whose risk process evolves as a spectrally negative Lévy process in the absence of dividend payments. The classical dividend problem for an insurance company consists in finding a dividend payment policy that maximizes the total expected discounted dividends. Related is the problem where we impose the restriction that ruin be prevented: the beneficiaries of the dividends must then keep the insurance company solvent by bail-out loans. Drawing on the fluctuation theory of spectrally negative Lévy processes we give an explicit analytical description of the optimal strategy in the set of barrier strategies and the corresponding value function, for either of the problems. Subsequently we investigate when the dividend policy that is optimal among all admissible ones takes the form of a barrier strategy.
In this paper we consider a modified version of the classical optimal dividends problem of de Finetti in which the dividend payments subject to a penalty at ruin. We assume that the risk process is modeled by a general spectrally positive Levy process before dividends are deducted. Using the fluctuation theory of spectrally positive Levy processes we give an explicit expression of the value function of a barrier strategy. Subsequently we show that a barrier strategy is the optimal strategy among all admissible ones. Our work is motivated by the recent work of Bayraktar, Kyprianou and Yamazaki …
Consider the optimal dividend problem for an insurance company whose uncontrolled surplus precess evolves as a spectrally negative Levy process. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategies whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividends which are paid to the shareholders until the company is ruined. Kyprianou, Loeffen and Perez [28] have shown that a refraction strategy (also called threshold strategy) forms an optimal strategy under the condition t…
In this paper, we consider the mixed ratcheting-periodic dividend strategies for spectrally negative Lévy risk model, in which dividend payments can both be made continuously without falling and discretely at the jump times of an independent Poisson process. The expected net present value(NPV) of dividends paid up to ruin and the Laplace transform of the ruin time are obtained by using Lévy fluctuation theory. All the results are expressed in terms of scale functions. Finally, numerical results for Brownian motion with drift are given.
De Finetti's optimal dividend problem has recently been extended to the case dividend payments can only be made at Poisson arrival times. This paper considers the version with bail-outs where the surplus must be nonnegative uniformly in time. For a general spectrally negative Lévy model, we show the optimality of a Parisian-classical reflection strategy that pays the excess above a given barrier at each Poisson arrival times and also reflects from below at zero in the classical sense.
In this paper we study the optimal dividend problem for a company whose surplus process evolves as a spectrally positive Levy process. This model including the dual model of the classical risk model and the dual model with diffusion as special cases. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategy whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividends which are paid to the shareholders until the company is ruined. We show that the optimal dividend strategy is fo…
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…
In this paper we consider dividend problem for an insurance company whose risk evolves as a spectrally negative Lévy process (in the absence of dividend payments) when Parisian delay is applied. The objective function is given by the cumulative discounted dividends received until the moment of ruin when so-called barrier strategy is applied. Additionally we will consider two possibilities of delay. In the first scenario ruin happens when the surplus process stays below zero longer than fixed amount of time $ζ>0$. In the second case there is a time lag $d$ between decision of paying dividends a…
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…
We consider the general class of spectrally positive Lévy risk processes, which are appropriate for businesses with continuous expenses and lump sum gains whose timing and sizes are stochastic. Motivated by the fact that dividends cannot be paid at any time in real life, we study $\textit{periodic}$ dividend strategies whereby dividend decisions are made according to a separate arrival process. In this paper, we investigate the impact of fixed transaction costs on the optimal periodic dividend strategy, and show that a periodic $(b_u,b_l)$ strategy is optimal when decision times arrive accordi…
The expected present value of dividends is one of the classical stability criteria in actuarial risk theory. In this context, numerous papers considered threshold (refractive) and barrier (reflective) dividend strategies. These were shown to be optimal in a number of different contexts for bounded and unbounded payout rates, respectively. In this paper, motivated by the behaviour of some dividend paying stock exchange companies, we determine the optimal dividend strategy when both continuous (refractive) and lump sum (reflective) dividends can be paid at any time, and if they are subject to di…
We consider the classical optimal dividend control problem which was proposed by de Finetti [Trans. XVth Internat. Congress Actuaries 2 (1957) 433--443]. Recently Avram, Palmowski and Pistorius [Ann. Appl. Probab. 17 (2007) 156--180] studied the case when the risk process is modeled by a general spectrally negative Lévy process. We draw upon their results and give sufficient conditions under which the optimal strategy is of barrier type, thereby helping to explain the fact that this particular strategy is not optimal in general. As a consequence, we are able to extend considerably the class of…
We study the optimal dividend problem in the dual model where dividend payments can only be made at the jump times of an independent Poisson process. In this context, Avanzi et al. [5] solved the case with i.i.d. hyperexponential jumps; they showed the optimality of a (periodic) barrier strategy where dividends are paid at dividend-decision times if and only if the surplus is above some level. In this paper, we generalize the results for a general spectrally positive Levy process with additional terminal payoff/penalty at ruin, and also solve the case with classical bail-outs so that the surpl…
First passage problems for spectrally negative Lévy processes with possible absorbtion or/and reflection at boundaries have been widely applied in mathematical finance, risk, queueing, and inventory/storage theory. Historically, such problems were tackled by taking Laplace transform of the associated Kolmogorov integro-differential equations involving the generator operator. In the last years there appeared an alternative approach based on the solution of two fundamental "two-sided exit" problems from an interval (TSE). A spectrally one-sided process will exit smoothly on one side on an interv…
This paper investigates a dividend optimization problem with a positive creeping-associated terminal value at ruin for spectrally negative Levy processes. We consider an insurance company whose surplus process evolves according to a spectrally negative Levy process with a Gaussian part and a finite Levy measure. Its objective function relates to dividend payments until ruin and a creeping-associated terminal value at ruin. The positive creeping-associated terminal value represents the salvage value or the creeping reward when creeping happens. Owing to formulas from fluctuation theory, the obj…
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…
We consider a company that receives capital injections so as to avoid ruin. Differently from the classical bail-out settings where the underlying process is restricted to stay at or above zero, we study the case bail-out can only be made at independent Poisson times. Namely, we study a version of the reflected process that is pushed up to zero only on Poisson observation times at which the process is below zero. We also study the case with additional classical reflection above so as to model a company that pays dividends according to a barrier strategy. Focusing on the spectrally negative Lévy…
In this paper we study the draw-down related Parisian ruin problem for spectrally negative Lévy risk processes. We introduce the draw-down Parisian ruin time and solve the corresponding two-sided exit time via excursion theory. We also obtain an expression of the potential measure for the process killed at the draw-down Parisian time. As applications, new results are obtained for spectrally negative Lévy risk process with dividend barrier and Parisian ruin.
We consider the multi-refraction strategies in two equivalent versions of the optimal dividend problem in the dual (spectrally positive Lévy) model. The first problem is a variant of the bail-out case where both dividend payments and capital injections must be absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure. The second is an extension of Avanzi et al. [4] where a strategy is a combination of two absolutely continuous dividend payments with different upper bounds and different transaction costs. In both problems, it is shown to be optimal to refract the process at two thresholds, wit…
We analyze the optimal dividend payment problem in the dual model under constant transaction costs. We show, for a general spectrally positive Lévy process, an optimal strategy is given by a $(c_1,c_2)$-policy that brings the surplus process down to $c_1$ whenever it reaches or exceeds $c_2$ for some $0 \leq c_1 < c_2$. The value function is succinctly expressed in terms of the scale function. A series of numerical examples are provided to confirm the analytical results and to demonstrate the convergence to the no-transaction cost case, which was recently solved by Bayraktar et al. (2013).
This paper considers an optimal dividend distribution problem for an insurance company where the dividends are paid in a foreign currency. In the absence of dividend payments, our risk process follows a spectrally negative Lévy process. We assume that the exchange rate is described by a an exponentially Lévy process, possibly containing the same risk sources like the surplus of the insurance company under consideration. The control mechanism chooses the amount of dividend payments. The objective is to maximise the expected dividend payments received until the time of ruin and a penalty payment…
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 …
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…
This paper concerns an optimal dividend distribution problem for an insurance company whose risk process evolves as a spectrally negative Lévy process (in the absence of dividend payments). The management of the company is assumed to control timing and size of dividend payments. The objective is to maximize the sum of the expected cumulative discounted dividend payments received until the moment of ruin and a penalty payment at the moment of ruin, which is an increasing function of the size of the shortfall at ruin; in addition, there may be a fixed cost for taking out dividends. A complete so…
We consider the optimal dividend problem for the insurance risk process in a general Levy process setting. The objective is to find a strategy which maximizes the expected total discounted dividends until the time of ruin. We give sufficient conditions under which the optimal strategy is of barrier type. In particular, we show that if the Levy density is a completely monotone function, then the optimal dividend strategy is a barrier strategy. This approach was inspired by the work of Avram et al. (2007) [Annals of Applied Probability 17, 156-180], Loeffen (2008) [Annals of Applied Probability …
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 confirm…
In this paper, we consider the optimal dividends problem for a company whose cash reserves follow a general Levy process with certain positive jumps and arbitrary negative jumps. The objective is to find a policy which maximizes the expected discounted dividends until the time of ruin. Under appropriate conditions, we appeal to very recent results in the theory of potential analysis of subordinators to obtain the convexity properties of probability of ruin. We present conditions under which the optimal dividend strategy, among all admissible ones, takes the form of a barrier strategy.
The recent papers Gajek-Kucinsky(2017) and Avram-Goreac-Li-Wu(2020) investigated the control problem of optimizing dividends when limiting capital injections stopped upon bankruptcy. The first paper works under the spectrally negative Lévy model; the second works under the Cramér-Lundberg model with exponential jumps, where the results are considerably more explicit. The current paper has three purposes. First, it illustrates the fact that quite reasonable approximations of the general problem may be obtained using the particular exponential case studied in Avram-Goreac-Li-Wu(2020). Secondly, …
In this paper, we study de Finetti's optimal dividend problem with capital injection under the assumption that the dividend strategies are absolutely continuous. In many previous studies, the process before being controlled was assumed to be a spectrally one-sided Lévy process, however in this paper we use a Lévy process that may have both positive and negative jumps. In the main theorem, we show that a refraction--reflection strategy is an optimal strategy. We also mention the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the stochastic differential equations that define refracted Lévy processes.
We consider the optimal dividend problem in the so-called degenerate bivariate risk model under the assumption that the surplus of one branch may become negative. More specific, we solve the stochastic control problem of maximizing discounted dividends until simultaneous ruin of both branches of an insurance company by showing that the optimal value function satisfies a certain Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. Further, we prove that the optimal value function is the smallest viscosity solution of said HJB equation, satisfying certain growth conditions. Under some additional assumptions,…
We obtain series expansions of the $q$-scale functions of arbitrary spectrally negative Lévy processes, including processes with infinite jump activity, and use these to derive various new examples of explicit $q$-scale functions. Moreover, we study smoothness properties of the $q$-scale functions of spectrally negative Lévy processes with infinite jump activity. This complements previous results of Chan et al. [7] for spectrally negative Lévy processes with Gaussian component or bounded variation.
For refracted spectrally negative Lévy processes, we identify expressions of several quantities related to Laplace transforms on their weighted occupation times until first exit times. Such quantities are expressed in terms of unique solutions to integral equations involving weight functions and scale functions for the associated spectrally negative Lévy processes. Previous results on refracted Lévy processes are recovered.
As well known, all functionals of a Markov process may be expressed in terms of the generator operator, modulo some analytic work. In the case of spectrally negative Markov processes however, it is conjectured that everything can be expressed in a more direct way using the $W$ scale function which intervenes in the two-sided first passage problem, modulo performing various integrals. This conjecture arises from work on Levy processes \cite{AKP,Pispot,APP,Iva,IP, ivanovs2013potential,AIZ,APY}, where the $W$ scale function has explicit Laplace transform, and is therefore easily computable; furth…
The joint distribution of the maximum loss and the maximum gain is obtained for a spectrally negative Levy process until the passage time of a given level. Their marginal distributions up to an independent exponential time are also provided. The existing formulas for Brownian motion with drift are recovered using the particular scale functions.Keywords Maximum drawdown Maximum drawup Spectrally negative Reflected process Fluctuation theory
In this paper, we compute the Laplace transform of occupation times (of the negative half-line) of spectrally negative Lévy processes. Our results are extensions of known results for standard Brownian motion and jump-diffusion processes. The results are expressed in terms of the so-called scale functions of the spectrally negative Lévy process and its Laplace exponent. Applications to insurance risk models are also presented.
We study the convergence in distribution of the supremum of the local time and of the favorite site for a transient diffusion in a spectrally negative Lévy potential. To do so, we study the h-valleys of a spectrally negative Lévy process, and we prove in partiular that the renormalized sequence of the h-minima converges to the jumping times sequence of a standard Poisson process.
Using a new approach, for spectrally negative Lévy processes we find joint Laplace transforms involving the last exit time (from a semi-infinite interval), the value of the process at the last exit time and the associated occupation time, which generalizes some previous results.
Given a spectrally negative Lévy process and independent Poisson observation times, we consider a periodic barrier strategy that pushes the process down to a certain level whenever it is above it. We also consider the versions with additional classical reflection above and/or below. Using scale functions and excursion theory, various fluctuation identities are computed in terms of the scale function. Applications in de Finetti's dividend problems are also discussed.
We investigate a dividend maximization problem under stochastic interest rates with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck dynamics. This setup also takes negative rates into account. First a deterministic time is considered, where an explicit separating curve $α(t)$ can be found to determine the optimal strategy at time $t$. In a second setting we introduce a strategy-independent stopping time. The properties and behavior of these optimal control problems in both settings are analyzed in an analytical HJB-driven approach as well as using backward stochastic differential equations.
Following from recent developments by Hubalek and Kyprianou, the objective of this paper is to provide further methods for constructing new families of scale functions for spectrally negative Lévy processes which are completely explicit. This is the result of an observation in the aforementioned paper which permits feeding the theory of Bernstein functions directly into the Wiener-Hopf factorization for spectrally negative Lévy processes. Many new, concrete examples of scale functions are offered although the methodology in principle delivers still more explicit examples than those listed.
Scale functions play a central role in the fluctuation theory of spectrally negative Lévy processes. For spectrally negative compound Poisson processes with positive drift, a new representation of the $q$-scale functions in terms of the characteristics of the process is derived. Moreover, similar representations of the derivatives and the primitives of the $q$-scale functions are presented. The obtained formulae for the derivatives allow for a complete exposure of the smoothness properties of the considered $q$-scale functions. Some explicit examples of $q$-scale functions are given for illust…
For spectrally negative Lévy processes, adapting an approach from \cite{BoLi:sub1} we identify joint Laplace transforms involving local times evaluated at either the first passage times, or independent exponential times, or inverse local times. The Laplace transforms are expressed in terms of the associated scale functions. Connections are made with the permanental process and the Markovian loop soup measure.
In this paper, we identify Laplace transforms of occupation times of intervals until first passage times for spectrally negative Lévy processes. New analytical identities for scale functions are derived and therefore the results are explicitly stated in terms of the scale functions of the process. Applications to option pricing and insurance risk models are also presented.
For a (killed) spectrally negative Lévy process we provide an analytic expression for the distribution of its overshoot over a fixed level in terms of the infinitesimal generator and the scale function of the process. Our identity involves an auxiliary function and the simplicity of the identity depends very much on the choice of this function. In particular, for specific choices one recovers various previous established formulas in the literature. We review several applications and also show that one can get in a similar way identities of overshoots for reflected and refracted spectrally nega…
We study the scale function of the spectrally negative phase-type Levy process. Its scale function admits an analytical expression and so do a number of its fluctuation identities. Motivated by the fact that the class of phase-type distributions is dense in the class of all positive-valued distributions, we propose a new approach to approximating the scale function and the associated fluctuation identities for a general spectrally negative Levy process. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the approximation method.
In this article we get simple explicit formulas for $\Exp\sup_{s\leq t}X(s)$ where $X$ is a spectrally positive or negative Lévy process with infinite variation. As a consequence we derive a generalization of the well-known formula for the supremum distribution of Wiener process that is we obtain $\Prob(\sup_{s\leq t}Z_α(s)\geq u)=α\Prob(Z_α(t)\geq u)$ for $u\geq 0$ where $Z_α$ is a spectrally negative Lévy process with $1<α\leq 2$ which also stems from Kendall's identity for the first crossing time. Our proof uses a formula for the supremum distribution of a spectrally positive Lévy process w…
For spectrally negative Lévy processes, we prove several fluctuation results involving a general draw-down time, which is a downward exit time from a dynamic level that depends on the running maximum of the process. In particular, we find expressions of the Laplace transforms for the two-sided exit problems involving the draw-down time. We also find the Laplace transforms for the hitting time and creeping time over the running-maximum related draw-down level, respectively, and obtain an expression for a draw-down associated potential measure. The results are expressed in terms of scale functio…
For a spectrally negative Lévy process (snLp) $X$, killed according to a rate that is a function $ω$ of its position, we analyse the exit probability of the one-sided upwards-passage problem. When $ω$ is strictly positive, this problem is related to the determination of the Laplace transform of the first passage time upwards for $X$ that has been time-changed by the inverse of the additive functional $\int_0^\cdot ω(X_u)du$. In particular our findings thus shed extra light on related results concerning first passage times upwards (downwards) of spectrally negative positive self-similar Markov …
Path decomposition is performed to characterize the law of the pre/post-supremum, post-infimum and the intermediate processes of a spectrally negative Levy process taken up to an independent exponential time T: As a result, mainly the distributions of the supremum of the post-infimum process and the maximum drawdown of the pre/postsupremum, post-infimum processes and the intermediate processes are obtained together with the law of drawdown durations.
In this paper we study a spectrally negative Lévy process that is reflected at its draw-down level whenever a draw-down time from the running supremum arrives. Using an excursion-theoretical approach, for such a reflected process we find the Laplace transform of the upper exiting time and an expression of the associated potential measure. When the reflected process is identified as a risk process with capital injections, the expected total amount of discounted capital injections prior to the exiting time and the Laplace transform of the accumulated capital injections until the exiting time are…
We give a review of the state of the art with regard to the theory of scale functions for spectrally negative Levy processes. From this we introduce a general method for generating new families of scale functions. Using this method we introduce a new family of scale functions belonging to the Gaussian Tempered Stable Convolution (GTSC) class. We give particular emphasis to special cases as well as cross-referencing their analytical behaviour against known general considerations.
For a spectrally negative Lévy process $X$, we study the following distribution: $$ \mathbb{E}_x \left[ \mathrm{e}^{- q \int_0^t \mathbf{1}_{(a,b)} (X_s) \mathrm{d}s } ; X_t \in \mathrm{d}y \right], $$ where $-\infty \leq a < b < \infty$, and where $q,t>0$ and $x \in \mathbb{R}$. More precisely, we identify the Laplace transform with respect to $t$ of this measure in terms of the scale functions of the underlying process. Our results are then used to price step options and the particular case of an exponential spectrally negative Lévy jump-diffusion model is discussed.
We consider the spectrally negative Levy processes and determine the joint laws for the quantities such as the first and last passage times over a fixed level, the overshoots and undershoots at first passage, the minimum, the maximum and the duration of negative values. We apply our results to insurance risk theory to find an explicit expression for the generalized expected discounted penalty function in terms of scale functions. Further, a new expression for the generalized Dickson's formula is provided.
