arXiv research

We show that different rates should be used for borrowing and discount rates, and that the risk-free rate should be used for discounting when assessing and comparing the cost of energy accross diffferent producers and technologies, on the example of photovoltaics. Recent quantitative models using the same rate for borr…

We demonstrate a limitation of discounted expected utility, a standard approach for representing the preference to risk when future cost is discounted. Specifically, we provide an example of the preference of a decision maker that appears to be rational but cannot be represented with any discounted expected utility. A …

Model shows how discount rates affect intergenerational equity in climate mitigation.

Proposes a new method for determining LGD discount rates based on cost of capital.

Study uses put-call parity to estimate cost of funding in equity derivatives markets.

The paper analyzes optimal dividend and capital injection strategies under time-inconsistent preferences.

For environmental problems such as global warming future costs must be balanced against present costs. This is traditionally done using an exponential function with a constant discount rate, which reduces the present value of future costs. The result is highly sensitive to the choice of discount rate and has generated …

Adaptive policies solve a linear program to maximize rewards while minimizing costs in sales with discounts.

We estimate risk measures in Markov cost processes with lower and upper bounds.

Study reveals a hidden cost in derivatives markets through option-implied discount factors.

We consider a modification of the dividend maximization problem from ruin theory. Based on a classical risk process we maximize the difference of expected cumulated discounted dividends and total expected discounted additional funding (subject to some proportional transaction costs). For modelling dividends we use the …

New algorithm for nonstationary GLBs reduces computation and memory costs.

In this paper, we study the optimal control problem for a company whose surplus process evolves as an upward jump diffusion with random return on investment. Three types of practical optimization problems faced by a company that can control its liquid reserves by paying dividends and injecting capital. In the first pro…

Modeling climate change costs with stochastic interest rates shows inequality, but funding abatement can reduce this.

We introduce a general framework for measuring risk in the context of Markov control processes with risk maps on general Borel spaces that generalize known concepts of risk measures in mathematical finance, operations research and behavioral economics. Within the framework, applying weighted norm spaces to incorporate …

New algorithm learns optimal policies with minimal memory and time.

Unified framework for fixed-income pricing and liability replication.

This paper deals with discrete-time Markov control processes on a general state space. A long-run risk-sensitive average cost criterion is used as a performance measure. The one-step cost function is nonnegative and possibly unbounded. Using the vanishing discount factor approach, the optimality inequality and an optim…

We study risk-sharing economies where heterogenous agents trade subject to quadratic transaction costs. The corresponding equilibrium asset prices and trading strategies are characterised by a system of nonlinear, fully-coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations. We show that a unique solution generally…

The study assesses music as an investment asset class using discounted cashflow models.

Develops an actor-critic algorithm for risk-sensitive Markov decision processes.

We study a single risky financial asset model subject to price impact and transaction cost over an finite time horizon. An investor needs to execute a long position in the asset affecting the price of the asset and possibly incurring in fixed transaction cost. The objective is to maximize the discounted revenue obtaine…

We consider a simple investment project with the following parameters: I>0: Initial investment which is amortizable in n years; n: Number of years the investment allows production with constant output per year; A>0: Annual amortization (A=I/n); Q>0: Quantity of products sold per year; Cv>0: Variable cost per unit; p>0:…

This paper studies a portfolio optimization problem in a discrete-time Markovian model of a financial market, in which asset price dynamics depend on an external process of economic factors. There are transaction costs with a structure that covers, in particular, the case of fixed plus proportional costs. We prove that…

The well-known theorem of Dybvig, Ingersoll and Ross shows that the long zero-coupon rate can never fall. This result, which, although undoubtedly correct, has been regarded by many as surprising, stems from the implicit assumption that the long-term discount function has an exponential tail. We revisit the problem in …

New RL method improves on standard discounted RL for operations research.

Sample complexity bounds are a common performance metric in the Reinforcement Learning literature. In the discounted cost, infinite horizon setting, all of the known bounds have a factor that is a polynomial in $1/(1-γ)$, where $γ< 1$ is the discount factor. For a large discount factor, these bounds seem to imply that …

In this paper, we study a risk process modeled by a Brownian motion with drift (the diffusion approximation model). The insurance entity can purchase reinsurance to lower its risk and receive cash injections at discrete times to avoid ruin. Proportional reinsurance and excess-of-loss reinsurance are considered. The obj…

We illustrate a problem in the self-financing condition used in the papers "Funding beyond discounting: collateral agreements and derivatives pricing" (Risk Magazine, February 2010) and "Partial Differential Equation Representations of Derivatives with Counterparty Risk and Funding Costs" (The Journal of Credit Risk, 2…

We study a single risky financial asset model subject to price impact and transaction cost over an infinite horizon. An investor needs to execute a long position in the asset affecting the price of the asset and possibly incurring in fixed transaction cost. The objective is to maximize the discounted revenue obtained b…

We present a dialogue on Funding Costs and Counterparty Credit Risk modeling, inclusive of collateral, wrong way risk, gap risk and possible Central Clearing implementation through CCPs. This framework is important following the fact that derivatives valuation and risk analysis has moved from exotic derivatives managed…

Paper develops a discounted algorithm for online convex optimization that adapts to unknown discount factors.

The paper explores perpetual contracts in a financial market without arbitrage.

An uncollateralized swap hedged back-to-back by a CCP swap is used to introduce FVA. The open IR01 of FVA, however, is a sure sign of risk not being fully hedged, a theoretical no-arbitrage pricing concern, and a bait to lure market risk capital, a practical business concern. By dynamically trading the CCP swap, with t…

Defines an implied CO2-price to cover climate change costs, finding it significantly higher than the SCC.

Paper introduces non-linear discounting models for default compensation and climate valuation.

We provide a verification and characterization result of optimal maximal sub-solutions of BSDEs in terms of fully coupled forward backward stochastic differential equations. We illustrate the application thereof in utility optimization with random endowment under probability and discounting uncertainty. We show with ex…

In this paper we consider two problems on optimal implementation delay of taxation with trade-off for spectrally negative Lévy insurance risk processes. In the first case, we assume that an insurance company starts to pay tax when its surplus reaches a certain level $b$ and at the termination time of the business there…

Study analyzes how discounts affect train ticket purchases and rescheduling in Switzerland.

Proves lower discount rates are needed for future losses.

Reinforcement learning (RL) typically defines a discount factor as part of the Markov Decision Process. The discount factor values future rewards by an exponential scheme that leads to theoretical convergence guarantees of the Bellman equation. However, evidence from psychology, economics and neuroscience suggests that…

There is an observed basis between repo discounting, implied from market repo rates, and bond discounting, stripped from the market prices of the underlying bonds. Here, this basis is explained as a convexity effect arising from the decorrelation between the discount rates for derivatives and bonds. Using a Hull-White …

Proposes a new framework for discount models.

We study contingent claims in a discrete-time market model where trading costs are given by convex functions and portfolios are constrained by convex sets. In addition to classical frictionless markets and markets with transaction costs or bid-ask spreads, our framework covers markets with nonlinear illiquidity effects…

This paper shows how forward rate interpolations are equivalent to discount factor interpolations in yield curve construction.

Proposes a new factor to improve BAB strategies by recognizing bad-beta assets.

Dynamic promotion optimization for e-commerce platforms within financial constraints.

This paper concerns the dual risk model, dual to the risk model for insurance applications, where premiums are surplus-dependent. In such a model premiums are regarded as costs, while claims refer to profits. We calculate the mean of the cumulative discounted dividends paid until ruin, if the barrier strategy is applie…