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Duality approaches to robust portfolio choice with ambiguity aversion to jump risks by Xing Jin Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Xudong Zeng School of Finance, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Corresponding author 1

Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

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A number of empirical and theoretical studies have documented that jump risk has asubstantial impact on portfolio selection. Given that jumps are inherently infrequent, itis di¢ cult to estimate jump models with adequate precision. This paper presents a novelapproach to the optimal portfolio selection problem in a potentially large …nancial marketfor an investor who faces both di¤usion and jump risk and who is averse not only to riskof loss but also to the uncertainty associated with jumps. More speci…cally, we develop apathwise optimization procedure based on martingale methods and minimax results to solvefor the probability of the worst scenario and for the optimal portfolio strategy in a jump-di¤usion model. More importantly, our method avoids the curse of dimensionality and hencesigni…cantly helps to solve a portfolio selection problem in a model with jump risk for aninvestor with ambiguity aversion. Finally we apply our theoretical results to another modelto examine the properties of the optimal portfolio choices. In striking contrast to a puredi¤usion model, our model indicates that the ambiguity aversion of an investor with regardto jump parameters may not reinforce the investor’s risk aversion.

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Page 1: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Duality approaches to robust portfolio choice with ambiguity

aversion to jump risks

by

Xing Jin�

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Xudong Zeng

School of Finance, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

�Corresponding author

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Abstract

A number of empirical and theoretical studies have documented that jump risk has a

substantial impact on portfolio selection. Given that jumps are inherently infrequent, it

is di¢ cult to estimate jump models with adequate precision. This paper presents a novel

approach to the optimal portfolio selection problem in a potentially large �nancial market

for an investor who faces both di¤usion and jump risk and who is averse not only to risk

of loss but also to the uncertainty associated with jumps. More speci�cally, we develop a

pathwise optimization procedure based on martingale methods and minimax results to solve

for the probability of the worst scenario and for the optimal portfolio strategy in a jump-

di¤usion model. More importantly, our method avoids the curse of dimensionality and hence

signi�cantly helps to solve a portfolio selection problem in a model with jump risk for an

investor with ambiguity aversion. Finally we apply our theoretical results to another model

to examine the properties of the optimal portfolio choices. In striking contrast to a pure

di¤usion model, our model indicates that the ambiguity aversion of an investor with regard

to jump parameters may not reinforce the investor�s risk aversion.

JEL Classi�cation: G11

Key Words and Phrases: Ambiguity aversion, Optimal portfolio selection, Duality method

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1 Introduction

Empirical evidence in �nance generally suggests that asset returns are not normally dis-

tributed and that the jump risk needs to be captured to model the skewness and the kur-

tosis of asset return processes; see Bakshi, Cao and Chen (1997), Bates (2000), Eraker,

Johannes and Polson (2003), among others. A number of empirical and theoretical stud-

ies have been demonstrated that jump risk has a substantial impact on portfolio selection;

see Liu, Longsta¤ and Pan (2003), and Das and Uppal (2004), for example. However, it

is di¢ cult to estimate jump models with adequate precision because jumps are inherently

infrequent. Our objective in this paper is to study the portfolio selection problem in multi-

asset and multi-state-variable models, where an investor faces both di¤usion risk and jump

risk and where the investor is averse not only to risk of loss but also to the model uncertainty

caused by jumps.

Prompted by the seminal work of Merton (1969, 1971) and Samuelson (1969), the dy-

namic portfolio selection problem has typically been studied in conjunction with continuous-

time models, primarily due to their analytical tractability. A standard assumption of

continuous-time models is that asset prices follow di¤usion processes. However, recent stud-

ies of the portfolio selection have demonstrated that optimal portfolios held by an investor

who faces jump risk are dramatically di¤erent from optimal portfolio in the absence of jump

risk. In other words, the economic loss associated with ignoring jump risk may be substan-

tial. For example, in a single-stock double-jump model, Liu, Longsta¤ and Pan (2003) �nd

that an investor is less willing to take leveraged or short positions than in a standard di¤u-

sion model due to the investor�s inability to hedge jump risks through continuous balancing.

In an international market setting, Das and Uppal (2004) investigate the e¤ect of jumps on

international portfolio selection. In their model, jumps tend to occur simultaneously across

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countries because jumps act as contagions. They �nd that jumps reduce the gain from in-

ternational diversi�cation and that leveraged portfolios may incur large losses when jumps

occur. In all of these studies and in the rational expectation approach, model uncertainty is

excluded a priori because the agent is assumed to have precise information; accordingly, the

model parameters are taken to be estimated with in�nite precision. Because only discrete

data sets are available for continuous-time models, jumps are di¢ cult to identify and hence,

a jump model is di¢ cult to estimate with adequate accuracy. The model associated with the

point estimate, called the reference model, has a high likelihood of being wrong. Naturally,

an investor may be averse to model uncertainty (known as ambiguity aversion) and, as a

result, may make conservative portfolio choices to ensure that the chosen investment strat-

egy will perform well when a set of relevant models are used, including the reference model

and other competing models that are di¢ cult to distinguish statistically from the reference

model.

Ambiguity aversion or Knightian uncertainty is originally formulated by Gilboa and

Schmeidler (1989) under an axiomatic framework in static models with the preferences of the

investor characterized by a max-min expected utility. Recently, two approaches have been

developed that incorporate ambiguity aversion into dynamic settings. The �rst, known as

the multi-prior approach, is laid out in Epstein and Schneider (2003) and Chen and Epstein

(2002), where investor preference can be represented by a recursive max-min expected utility

over a set of multi-prior probabilities. This formulation leads to dynamically consistent port-

folio rules in dynamic asset allocation problems. The second approach, called robustness, is

pioneered by Hansen and Sargent (1995) based on the application of robust control theory to

economic problems. Major developments in this approach can be found in Hansen, Sargent

and Tallarini (1999) and Anderson, Hansen and Sargent (2003). Both approaches have been

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used to model the aversion to model uncertainty in economics and �nance. In particular,

Maenhout (2004) applies the approach developed by Anderson, Hansen and Sargent (2003)

to a dynamic asset allocation problem in a pure-di¤usion model in which an investor allo-

cates his or her wealth between a risky stock and a risk-free bond. Studying the e¤ects of

model uncertainty on both dynamic portfolio rules and equilibrium asset pricing, Maenhout

�nds that robustness not only increases the investor�s risk aversion, but also increases the

equilibrium equity premium and lowers the risk-free rate. By extending the results obtained

in Anderson, Hansen and Sargent (2000) to a one-stock jump-di¤usion setting, Liu, Pan

and Wang (2005) study the asset pricing implications of imprecise knowledge about jumps

and demonstrate that uncertainty aversion to jumps can explain the volatility smirk pattern

observed in the literature on option pricing. In the present paper, we consider a multi-asset

jump-di¤usion model and incorporate model uncertainty with respect to jumps by using the

approach to ambiguity aversion employed in Liu, Pan and Wang (2005). As is well under-

stood, �nding the solution to an optimal portfolio selection problem in an incomplete market

in which there are a large number of assets and state variables, especially when model un-

certainty is present, is extremely di¢ cult. In fact, Bardhan and Chao (1996) demonstrate

that a market with unpredictable jumps is inherently incomplete regardless of the number

of basic traded assets. In contrast, an incomplete pure-di¤usion model can be completed

by increasing the number of traded stocks. In general, explicitly solving the corresponding

portfolio selection problem in an incomplete market and determining the probability of the

worst case scenario are daunting tasks. One usually uses either the HJB equation or the

duality-martingale method. As is well known in �nance, it is di¢ cult to apply the HJB

equation to a high-dimensional problem due to the curse of dimensionality, and it is also

challenging to use the martingale method in an incomplete market because there are in�-

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nitely many martingale measures. In the present paper, we develop a new approach based

on the martingale methods and minimax results to evaluate the probability of the worst case

scenario and then solve the corresponding portfolio selection problem.

Our method has several attractive features. First, we solve a pathwise minimization

problem instead of a minimax problem over portfolio strategies and alternative probabilities

in the primal problem or a minimization problem over in�nitely many martingale measures in

the dual problem. As a result, this method dramatically simpli�es the process of solving the

portfolio selection problem under ambiguity aversion to jump risk. Second, we reduce a high-

dimensional portfolio selection problem into a set of two-dimensional optimization problems,

so that we can solve the original dynamic portfolio selection problem in jump-di¤usion models

with a large number of assets and state variables and with ambiguity aversion to jump risk

in a computationally e¢ cient way.

Our paper is related to the work of Jin and Zhang (2012) in that they use a decomposition

approach to solve a portfolio selection problem that may include a large number of assets and

state variables with ambiguity aversion to jump risk. However, Jin and Zhang do not provide

a simple method of determining the probability of the worst outcome. These researchers�

approach is based on the HJB equation for CRRA utility functions and is not easy to extend

to more general HARA utility functions. The methods used in the present paper di¤er from

this earlier approach in that we develop a pathwise optimization method based on a duality-

martingale approach in combination with minimax results. Thus, our approach can be used

with more general HARA utility functions.

Our paper is also similar to the work of Das and Uppal (2004) and Ait-Sahalia, Cacho-

Diaz and Hurd (2009). These researchers solve the portfolio selection problems for jump-

di¤usion models. However, in their models, there is only one type of jump, and there is no

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state variable and no model uncertainty. In contrast, we obtain tractable solutions to indicate

optimal portfolio strategies under a jump-di¤usion model that includes a large number of

assets and state variables and that incorporates model uncertainty.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we present the frame-

work for Merton�s dynamic portfolio selection problem and demonstrate how it can be ex-

tended using ambiguity aversion. In Section 3, we develop a pathwise optimization approach

using the martingale methods and minimax results. Section 4 uses the duality method to

solve the dynamic portfolio choice problem in a two-stock model and evaluates the optimal

portfolio strategies. Section 5 concludes the paper. All proofs are collected in the appendices.

2 Merton�s problem and ambiguity aversion

In this section we formulate a model of incomplete �nancial markets in a continuous time

economy where asset prices follow a multidimensional jump-di¤usion process on the �xed

time horizon [0; T ], 0 < T <1.

We consider a complete probability space (;F ; P ), where is the set of states of na-

ture with generic element !, F is the �-algebra of observable events and P is a probabil-

ity measure on (;F). The uncertainty of the economy is generated by a d-dimensional

standard Brownian motion BS(t) = (BS1 (t); :::; B

Sd (t))

0 , an l-dimensional standard Brown-

ian motion BX(t) = (BX1 (t); :::; B

Xl (t))

0 and an (n � d)-dimensional multivariate Poison

process denoted by N(t) = (N1(t); :::; Nn�d(t))0, which are all de�ned on the probability

space (;F ; P ), with Nk(t) denoting the number of type k jumps up to time t. Assume

BS(t) and BX(t) are correlated and have d� l correlation matrix �t. The �ow of information

in the economy is given by the natural �ltration, i.e., the right-continuous and augmented

�ltration fFtgt2[0;T ] = fFSt _ FX

t _ FNt ; t 2 [0; T ]g, where FS

t = �(BS(s); 0 � s � t),

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FXt = �(BX(s); 0 � s � t) and FN

t = �(N(s); 0 � s � t). We suppose that observable

events are eventually known, i.e., F = FT .

We use a l-dimensional vector Xt = (X1t; :::; Xlt)0 to denote the state variables of the

economy. The state variables Xt may include stochastic volatilities and stochastic interest

rates as its components. For analytical tractability to be illustrated in Appendix B, we

assume that the state variables Xt follow a pure di¤usion process

dXt = bx(Xt)dt+ �x(Xt)dBX(t)

where bx(Xt) is an l-dimensional vector function and �x(Xt) is an l � l matrix function of

Xt, respectively. It should be noted the speci�cation of Xt excludes jumps in volatility.

As in Chapter VIII of Bremaud (1981), we assume that Nk admits stochastic intensity

�k(Xt), and the amplitude of the type k jump, denoted by Yk, has probability density

�k(t; dx), where �k(Xt) represents the rate of the jump process at time t, �k(t; dx) is Ft-

predictable and denotes the probability of getting a jump size x if there is a jump at time

t. For any two n-dimensional vectors x = (x1; :::; xn) and y = (y1; :::; yn), we denote the

component-wise multiplication as x � y = (x1y1; :::; xnyn).

We are now in a position to describe asset price processes. The market considered in this

paper includes m + 1 assets traded continuously on the time horizon [0; T ]. One of these

assets, called the bond, has a price S0(t) which evolves according to the di¤erential equation

dS0(t) = S0(t)r(Xt)dt (1)

S0(0) = 1

The remaining m assets, called stocks, are risky; their prices are modelled by the linear

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stochastic di¤erential equation

dSi(t) = Si(t�)(bi(Xt)dt+ �bi(Xt)dBS(t) + �qi (Xt)(Y � dN(t))

where i = 1; :::;m and Y = (Y1; :::; Yn�d). Here �bi(Xt) is the d-dimensional di¤usion coef-

�cient vector and �qi (Xt) is the (n � d)-dimensional jump coe¢ cient vector. In particular,

the Brownian motions represent frequent small movement in stock prices, while the jump

processes represent infrequent large shocks to the market.

We now turn to the portfolio selection problem. In this paper, we focus on the extended

Merton�s problem of maximizing the expected utility from the terminal wealth while incor-

porating ambiguity aversion. Speci�cally, we consider an investor with utility function U(x)

and endowed with some initial wealth w0, which is invested in the above-mentioned m + 1

assets. Let �(t) = (�1(t); :::; �m(t)) denote a trading strategy, where �i(t) is the proportion of

total wealth invested in the i-th risky asset held at time t and Ft-predictable. Any portfolio

policy �(t) has an associated wealth process Wt that evolves as

Wt = W0 +

Z t

0

r(s)Wsds+

Z t

0

Ws�(s)(b(s)� r(s)1m)ds

+

Z t

0

Ws�(s)�b(Xs)dBS(s) +

Z t

0

Ws��(s�)�q(Xs)(Y � dN(s))

where �b(Xt) is an m� (n� d) matrix with �bi being its i-th row, �q(Xt) is the m� (n� d)

matrix, with �qi being its i-th row. Here we use 1m to denote the m-dimensional column

vector of ones. A portfolio rule �(t) is said to be admissible if the corresponding wealth

process satis�es Wt � 0 almost surely. We use A(w0) to denote the set of all admissible

trading strategies. And we denote byW(w0) the family of all wealth processes generated by

admissible trading strategies in A(w0).

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The traditional Merton�s problem without ambiguity aversion is that the investor at-

tempts to maximize the following quantity

u(w0) = maxW2W(w0)

J(w0) = E [U(WT )]

where the utility function U(x) is non-decreasing and concave on R = (�1;1):

Our next step is to incorporate ambiguity aversion into Merton�s problem. Suppose that

an investor fears the possibility of model mis-speci�cation and makes the decision to guard

against the worst case scenario. Given that rare events are typically high impact events and

that the parameters of underlying jump processes are di¢ cult to estimate with adequate

accuracy, we focus on the investor�s ambiguity aversion to uncertainty with regard to jump

parameters. In other words, the problem of the investor stems from a class of prior models

generated by imprecise estimates of jump parameters, e.g., jump intensity and expected

jump size. The investor considers the point estimates and the corresponding model (called

the reference model) to be the most reliable, but the investor also explicitly recognizes that

the competing models are di¢ cult to distinguish statistically from the reference model. As

a result, the investor makes a precautionary portfolio choice to guard against the competing

alternatives and to ensure that his or her portfolio strategy performs reasonably well even

when if the worst case scenario occurs. In the meantime, the select of any model other

than the reference model is penalized because the selection is a deviation from the reference

model.

Before de�ning the utility function that includes the ambiguity aversion and the deviation

penalty, we introduce a set of probability measures, denoted by P, that speci�es alternative

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models of concern. Toward this end, we de�ne the martingale di¤erential as

q(dt; dx) = (q1(dt; dx); :::; qn�d(dt; dx))

where

qk(dt; dx) = dNk(t)� �k(Xt)�k(t; dx)dt

where k = 1; :::; n�d. Let P be the probability measure associated with the reference model.

Each probability measure P (�) 2 P has a Radon-Nikodym derivative, dP (�)dP

= � =Qn�d

k=1 �(k)t ,

with respect to P , where �(k)t is modelled by the stochastic di¤erential equation

�(k)t = �

(k)0 +

Z t

0

ZAk

(#k(s) k(s; x)� 1)�(k)s�qk(ds; dx) (2)

where �(k)0 = 1; #k(s) and k(s; x) are positive stochastic processes satisfying the following

relationship ZAk

k(t; z)�k(t; dz) = 1

for k = 1; :::; n � d. Here Ak is the support of size of the k-th jump. In particular, we set

Ak = (0;1) for a positive jump, Ak = (�1; 0) for a negative jump, and Ak = (�1;1) for

a mixed jump. From now on, we suppress the dependence of �k(Xt); #k(t); �k(t; dz) and

k(t; z) on t and Xt for notational convenience.

By Theorem T10 of Bremaud (1981), under the probability measure P (�), the k-th jump

intensity �k and density function�k(dz) are changed into #k�k and k(z)�k(dz), respectively.

To better understand this modelling, we consider a case where the investor is only averse to

the intensity of the �rst jump and is comfortable with the estimates of other parameters, then

#j = 1 for j = 2; ::; n� d, and j(z) = 1 for j = 1; :::; n� d. Thus, �(k)t = 1; k = 2; :::; n� d;

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and �(1)t de�ned by (2) is reduced to

�(1)t = �

(1)0 +

Z t

0

ZA1

(#1 � 1)�(1)s�q1(ds; dx):

In other words, all jump distributions and jump intensities except for the �rst jump in-

tensity in an alternative model are the same as those in the reference model whereas

the intensity of the �rst jump becomes #1�1 in the alternative model. Furthermore, let

�1 denote the con�dence interval of one standard deviation of estimate of �1, that is,

�1 = [b�1 � std(b�1); b�1 + std(b�1)], where b�1 is a point estimate of �1 and std(b�1) is thecorresponding standard deviation. Then, the set of all possible values of #1 is the interval

[(b�1 � std(b�1))=b�1; (b�1 + std(b�1))=b�1].In the remainder, we use �k to denote the set of all possible values of #k(t), which is

associated with the con�dence interval of a point estimate of �k. For the k-th jump size, we

use k to denote the set of all possible nonnegative functions of k(t; z) given by

k =

� k : k � 0;

ZAk

k(t; z)�k(t; dz) = 1

�: (3)

In general, we let � = �1 � �2 � � � � � �n�d and = 1 � 2 � � � � � n�d and we let P

denote the set of all alternative probabilities determined by � and :

We now de�ne the utility function. Following Liu et al. (2005), we make some changes to

Merton�s problem (described above). We begin by formulating a utility function in a discrete-

time setting and then, by taking the limit, derive the utility function for a continuous-time

model. For illustrative purposes, our penalty is the standard measure of entropy, which is

a special instance of the penalty function used in Liu et al. (2005). However, it is easy to

extend the results shown in the present paper to Liu et al.�s more general penalty function.

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To be more speci�c, for a �xed time period �t, the time-t utility is recursively given by

Ut = infP (�)2P

(��E�t (Ut+�t)

� n�dXk=1

1

'kE�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#+ E�

t (Ut+�t)

)(4)

with UT = U(WT ), and E�t denoting the conditional expectation under the probability P (�).

As in Liu et al. (2005), E�t

hln��t+�t�t

�imeasures the discrepancy between probabilities P (�)

and P , which is the standard measure of entropy. The coe¢ cient 'k represents the ambiguity

aversion to the kth jump. The minimization problem re�ects aversion to ambiguity of the

investor who worries about the imprecise estimation of parameters. Therefore, the investor

makes decisions to guard against the worst scenario. �(x) is a normalization factor and, for

tractability, we assume �(x) = (1� )x as in Maenhout (2004). In Proposition 1 given below,

by letting �t tend to zero, the continuous-time version Ut of utility (4) will be derived. Let

J(t;Wt; Xt) denote the indirect utility function given by

J(t;Wt; Xt) = supW2W(w0)

fUtg: (5)

Following Merton (1971), using the standard approach to stochastic control and an appro-

priate Ito�s lemma for jump-di¤usion processes, we can derive the optimal portfolio weights,

�, and the corresponding indirect value function, J , of the investor�s problem following the

HJB equation below:

0 = max�

�Jt +

1

2W 2�T�b�

Tb �JWW +W [�T(b(t)� r1m) + r]JW (6)

+bx(t)JX +W�T�b�Tt �

xT(t)JWX +1

2Tr(�x(t)�xT(t)JXXT)

+ infP (�)2P

(n�dXk=1

E� [J(W +W�T�qkz)� J(W )] +H(�t)J

))

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where �qk denotes the k-th column of �q and the function H(�t) is given in Proposition 1.

We use T to denote the transpose transformation.

As is well understood, the preference de�ned in (4) is dynamically consistent because it

is de�ned recursively; see Epstein and Schneider (2003) and Wang (2003). In the rest of the

paper, we assume that the utility function U(x) is non-positive, which includes the CRRA

and HARA utility functions in Section 3 as special cases.

Proposition 1 The continuous-time version of utility satisfying equation (4) is given by

Ut = E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i(7)

where

Ht = H(�t) = (1� )n�dXk=1

�k'k

ZAk

[#k(t) k(t; z) ln(#k(t) k(t; z)) + 1� #k(t) k(t; z)]�k(dz)

with H(�t) � 0.

Furthermore, suppose that for some � > 1;

sup k2k

ZAk

�k (s; z)�k(dz) <1;8s 2 [0; T ]: (8)

Then

J(t;Wt; Xt) = supWfUtg = inf

�supW

E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i: (9)

Proof. See Appendix A.

The new form of utility function (9) has an attractive feature. The maximization problem

in the "inf sup" problem, which is given by the second equality, is an investment optimization

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problem. Thus, the new expression makes it possible to use the duality method developed

by Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999, 2003) and Schied and Wu (2005) to evaluate the

optimal expected utility function given by (5). In general, it is much more di¢ cult to solve

the original "sup inf" problem de�ned by the �rst equality in (9).

Before concluding the section, we consider the speci�cation of jump distribution and its

Radon-Nikodym derivative in Liu, et al. (2005). According to their equation (1), the rate of

endowment �ow fYt; 0 � t � Tg solves the stochastic di¤erential equation

dYt = �Ytdt+ �YtdBt + (eZt � 1)Yt�dNt;

where Y0 > 0; � � 0 and � > 0 are constants. Here B denotes a standard Brownian motion

and N is a Poisson process with intensity � > 0. The jump amplitude is controlled by Zt,

which is normally distributed with mean �J and standard deviation �J .

Following the equation (2) in Liu, et al. (2005), the Radon-Nikodym derivative is given

by

d�t = (ea+bZt�b�J� 1

2b2�2J � 1)�t�dNt � (ea � 1)�tdt;

where a and b are predictable processes. Then, according to Liu, et al. (2005), the density

function of the jump size is changed into (t; z)�(dz) under the probability P (�), where

�(z) is the distribution function of jump size eZt � 1 under probability P and (t; z) =

(1 + z)be�b�J�12b2�2J . Then, we can verify that for � > 1;

ZA

�(z)�(dz) = e12�(��1)b2�2J :

Assume the set is the convex hull of functions (t; z) = (1 + z)be�b�J�12b2�2J . Then, the

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condition (8) is satis�ed provided that predictable processes b are bounded.

3 Duality approach to solving the indirect utility function

In this section, we develop a pathwise optimization procedure that can be used to solve the

portfolio problem formulated in Section 2. Speci�cally, we use the duality method developed

in Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999, 2003), and Schied and Wu (2005), together with the

minimax theorem in Fan (1953) and Proposition 1 of the present paper. For tractability,

we �rst consider a CRRA utility function; then, we extend our results to more general

HARA utility functions. As noted in the introduction, Bardhan and Chao (1996) show that

once unpredictable jumps are included in the model, the market is inherently incomplete,

regardless of whether m � n or m < n. In contrast, in a pure-di¤usion economy, increasing

the number of traded assets can always complete the market. For tractability, we consider

the case of m � n, in which the number of risky assets is greater than or equal to the sum

of the di¤usions and jumps. Propositions 3 and 4 indicate that our methods are especially

powerful in these cases. For the case m < n, Jin and Zhang (2012) adopt the ��ctitious

completing" approach developed by Cvitanic̀ and Karatzas (1992) to show that solving the

portfolio selection problem in the original market can be converted into solving one in a

set of �ctitious markets. In particular, the number of risky assets is equal to the sum of

the di¤usions and jumps, that is, m = n in each �ctitious market, and hence, the results

developed in the present paper can be used to solve the optimal portfolio selection problem

in each �ctitious market.

For a market with asset returns that are consistent with the aforementioned jump-

di¤usion processes, Bardhan and Chao (1996) argue that if m > n and there are no arbitrage

opportunities, then m � n assets in the market are redundant and can be removed. This

16

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scenario is similar to the case in a pure-di¤usion economy. In the remainder of the present

paper, we consider the case in which m = n, although our method is more generally ap-

plicable to the case in which m � n; there are more assets than di¤usions and jumps, or

otherwise, the number of assets equals the number of di¤usions and jumps. Without loss of

generality, we assume that the Brownian motions underlying the asset returns and the state

variables are identical, namely, BS(t) = BX(t) = B(t).

3.1 CRRA utility function

In this section, we consider the constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility function given

by

U(x) =

8>><>>:x1�

1� ; 8x > 0

�1; 8x � 0: (10)

For practical relevance, we assume the relative risk aversion coe¢ cient is greater than one.

In order to calculate J(t;Wt; Xt) de�ned by (5), we now lay out necessary notation. As in

Section 2, we use P (�) to denote the probability de�ned by the Radon-Nikodym derivative

� given by (2) with (#1(t); :::; #n�d(t)) and ( 1(t; z); :::; n�d(t; z)). We let Q� be the family

of all densities of equivalent local martingale measures with respect to the probability P (�).

We use E�(�) to denote the expectation under P (�). According to the discussion in the

previous section, the jump intensities and jump size distributions under P (�) are given by

��k = #k(t)�k and ��k(dz) = k(t; z)�k(dz), respectively, k = 1; :::; n� d:

We now introduce a characterization result of Q� developed in Bardhan and Chao

(1996). To this end, we assume the matrix � = [�b;�q] is invertible. Here we use e� =

17

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(e�b1; :::;e�bd;e�q1; :::;e�qn�d)0 to denote the market price of risk given by

e� =0BB@ e�be�q1CCA = ��1(b(t)� r1n+�q�

� � �): (11)

Note that

��1�q =

0BB@ 0d�(n�d)

I(n�d)�(n�d)

1CCA ;

where 0d�(n�d) denotes the d� (n�d) matrix of zeros and I(n�d)�(n�d) is the (n�d)� (n�d)

identity matrix. Hence, e� can be rewritten as

e� =0BB@ e�be�q1CCA =

0BB@ �b

�q + �� � �

1CCA ; (12)

where 0BB@ �b

�q

1CCA = ��1(b(t)� r1n):

Let �loc denote the family of triples � = (v; �; �), such that

v(t) = (v1(t); :::; vd(t))T

�(t) = (�1(t); :::; �n�d(t))T

�(t) = (�1(t; z); :::; �n�d(t; z))T

are predictable processes, � and � are strictly positive, � satis�es

ZE

�k(t; z)��k(dz) = 1

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for t 2 [0; T ] and k = 1; :::; n� d, and the following equation holds:

�bv(t) + �q�� � (�� �(t) � e�) = b(t)� r1n+�q�

� � � (13)

or equivalently,

v(t) = e�b;�� � (�� �(t) � e�) = e�q (14)

where

� = (�1; :::; �n�d); e� = (e�1; :::; e�n�d) (15)

�k =

ZE

z��k(dz); e�k = ZE

z�k(t; z)��k(dz)

for t � 0 and k = 1; :::; n� d. For each � 2 �loc, de�ne the local martingale,

��(t) = �b�(t)�q�(t); (16)

where

�b�(t) = exp

��Z t

0

vT (s)dB(s)� 12

Z t

0

jjv(s)jj2ds�;

�q�(t) =

n�dYk=1

Nk(t)Yi=1

(�k(tki )�k(t

ki ; z

ki )) exp

�Z t

0

ZAk

(1� �k(s)�k(s; z))��k�

�k(dz)ds

�:

In particular, ��(t) is a supermartingale for each � 2 �loc since it is non-negative. We use �

to denote the subset of �loc for which ��(t) is a martingale.

The following lemma is one of the main results in Bardhan and Chao (1996) and plays a

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key role in our paper.

Lemma 2 A measure Q 2 Q� if and only if there exists a triple � 2 �, such that the

Radon-Nikodym derivative dQdP= ��(t).

Proof. See Bardhan and Chao (1996).

Equipped with Proposition 1 and Lemma 2, we are able to solve the portfolio problem

by using the duality method developed in Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999, 2003) and

Schied and Wu (2005).

Proposition 3 Under the assumptions of Proposition 1, we have the following duality result

J(t;Wt; Xt) =W 1� t

1�

sup�sup�2Q�

E�t

he1

R Tt (Hs+(1� )r)ds��(t; T )

1� 1

i!

: (17)

And moreover,

sup�sup�2Q�

E�t

he1

R Tt (Hs+(1� )r)ds��(t; T )

1� 1

i= Et

"��b�(t; T )

�1� 1 exp

Z T

t

n�dXk=1

infck2C�k

TD�k;eck2 eC�k T ~D�

k

ZAk

gk(z; ck;eck)�k(dz)ds!#� f(t;Xt) (18)

where ��(t; T ) = ��(T )=��(t) and �b�(t; T ) = �b�(T )=�

b�(t). Here gk(z; ck;eck), C�k ; D�

k;eC�k and

eD�k are given in Appendix B.

Furthermore, the probability of the worst case is given by (48) in Appendix B.

Proof. See Appendix B.

In (18), we have translated the original optimization problem over the stochastic processes

� and � into a pathwise minimization problem. The former, as is well understood, is notori-

ously di¢ cult to solve due to in�nitely many Radon-Nikodym derivatives � and martingale

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measures � and lack of a closed-form solution for the expectation E�t [�]: The latter is n � d

minimization problems over a subset in the two-dimensional real space R2 and are straight-

forward to solve. In the meantime, it is free of the curse of dimensionality caused by n� d,

the number of jumps, and thus, it can lead to signi�cant reduction in computation when

n� d is large. In short, the f(t;Xt) can be evaluated by the standard Monte Carlo method

in combination with the pathwise minimization problems. As a result, the optimal portfo-

lio strategy can be derived through a HJB equation satis�ed by the indirect value function

J(t;Wt; Xt) in (17), which will be obtained as a special case of the proposition in the next

section for general HARA utility functions.

In particular, for the case without the ambiguity, that is, � = 1, the equation (17) is

reduced to

J(t;Wt; Xt) =W 1� t

1�

�sup�2Q1

Et

�e1�

R Tt rds��(t; T )

1� 1

��

which is the indirect utility function of maximizing utility of terminal wealth in the incom-

plete market.

Then, according to equation (18), the above indirect utility function can be further

calculated as follows:

sup�2Q1

Et

he1�

R Tt rds��(t; T )

1� 1

i= Et

"��b�(t; T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

t

ZAk

infckgk(z; ck)�k(dz)ds

!#

where gk(z; ck) can be derived in Appendix B as

gk(z; ck) = �ck�qk +1

"�1� 1

� �1�ckz + 1�

1

�1� � 1#�k:

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3.2 HARA utility function

In this section, we use results developed in the last section to solve the optimal portfolio

choice problem in a model in which an investor has a HARA utility function but the bond

and stock prices remain unchanged. To be more speci�c, a HARA utility function is given

by

U(x) =

8>><>>:11� (x� b)1� ; 8x > b

�1; 8x � b

:

When b = 0; U(x) reduces to a CRRA utility function. Here we consider a realistic case

with 0 < b < W0; that is, the relative risk aversion is decreasing with x.

Proposition 4 Under the assumptions of Proposition 1, we have the following duality result

J(t;Wt; Xt) =(Wt � b�t)

1�

1�

�sup�sup�2Q

E�t

�exp

�1

Z T

t

(Hs + (1� )r)ds

���(t; T )

1� 1

�� =

(Wt � b�t)1�

1� (f(t;Xt))

;

where �t = Et

hexp

��R Ttrds��b�(t; T )

i; and f(t;Xt) is given by (18).

Proof. See Appendix C.

Before concluding this section, we provide the optimal portfolio rule given below. For

simplicity, we consider the reference model only since it is straightforward to extend the

result to the worse case model once the optimal � is obtained in Proposition 4.

Proposition 5 The optimal portfolio weight �� = (��1; :::; ��n) is given by

�� =�e��b1; :::; e��bd; e��q1; :::; e��q(n�d)���1

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where

(e��b1; :::; e��bd)> = Wt � b�tWt

"e�b + �t�

x>fXf

#

and e��qk solves the following optimization problem:supe�qk2Fk e�qk(W � b�t)

� W (e�qk � �kak) +�k1�

ZAk

[W (1 + e�qkz)� b�t]1� �k(dz) (19)

for k = 1; :::; n� d, where the set Fk is de�ned in Appendix D.

Proof. See Appendix D.

4 The comparative statics of risk aversion and ambiguity aversion

In this section, we apply the theoretical results developed above to a two-stock jump-di¤usion

model in order to address two issues. First, we examine the investment behavior of an investor

in a multi-asset model when she faces more frequent jumps, with comparisons to those in

a single-stock market, as in Liu, et al. (2003). Second, by quantifying the sensitivity of

the optimal jump exposure to the risk aversion and the ambiguity aversion coe¢ cients, we

investigate whether ambiguity aversion to jumps a¤ects the investment behavior of investors

in the same way as increased risk aversion does.

For this, we specify a two-stock model. More precisely, we assume that stock prices follow

the jump-di¤usion processes below

dSi;t = Si;t�[(r + �i + �i�)dt+ �bidBt + �qiY dNt]; i = 1; 2;

where Bt is the standard Brownian motion and Nt is a one-dimensional Poisson process with

the jump intensity �. Here, for the ith stock we use �i and �i� to denote risk premium

23

Page 24: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

components associated with the di¤usion and jump risks, respectively. For simplicity, we

assume that the jump size Y = exp(U) � 1 with U is normally distributed with mean �Y

and variance �2Y : In particular, if the jump size Y is deterministic, the stock price processes

reduce to the model in Section 4.1 of Liu, et al. (2003). Let � and �� denote the jump

intensities in the reference model and in the worst case, respectively. Similarly, we use b��qand e��q to denote the optimal exposure to the jump in the reference model and in the worstcase. In this model, the market price of risk can be expressed as

�t =

0BB@ �bt

�qt

1CCA =

0BB@ �b1;t + �b2;t�

�q1;t + �q2;t�+ �a

1CCA ;

where a is the expected jump size. We assume the investor has a CRRA utility function

de�ned by (10). Our static analysis is based on the following result.

Proposition 6 Let e��q and �� be interior optimal solutions to the maxmin problem (56) in

Appendix E. Then, we have

�� = � exp

�'

�1

1�

Z 1

�1[1� (1 + e��qz)1� ]�(dz)� �q2e��q�� : (20)

@e��q@

= �

Z 1

�1z(1 + e��qz)� ln(1 + e��qz)�(dz)

Z 1

�1z2(1 + e��qz)� �1�(dz) < 0; (21)

@e��q@��

= � �q1(��)2 A

; (22)

and

@e��q@'

= � �q1��B

(��)2A+ '(�q1)2; (23)

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where

A =

Z 1

�1z2(1 + e��qz)� �1�(dz) > 0;

and

B =1

1�

Z 1

�1[1� (1 + e��qz)1� ]�(dz)� �q2e��q:

In particular,@e��q@'

> 0 and @��

@'< 0; if �q1 > 0 and

�q2 >1

1�

�1� exp

�(1� )�Y +

(1� )2�2Y2

��: (24)

Proof. See Appendix E.

To better understand an investor�s investment behavior in a multi-asset jump-di¤usion

model with and without ambiguity aversion, we �rst focus on the case without ambiguity

aversion and examine the impact of the jump intensity � on the optimal jump exposure

b��q and portfolio strategy �� = (��1; ��2). Speci�cally, we turn o¤ the ambiguity aversion

by letting � = 0: Then �� = � and e��q = b��q. From Proposition 5, b��q solves the followingone-period portfolio choice problem with CRRA utility function:

supb�q2[0;1) b�q(�q � �a) +�

1�

ZA

[(1 + b�qz)1� � 1]�k(dz): (25)

The optimal portfolio rule in Section 4.1 of Liu, et al. (2003) solves the problem (25),

implying that the optimal portfolio rule in the single-stock model is the same as the optimal

jump exposure b��q in the two-stock model but portfolio strategies in terms of response tojumps may di¤er. Speci�cally, consider the case where �q1 > 0, which corresponds to the case:

� > 0 in Section 4.1 of Liu, et al. (2003). From (22),@b��q@�

< 0, namely, the investor will reduce

her optimal jump exposure when facing more frequent jumps. By contrast, the investor may

25

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increase her holding in one stock while reduce her holding in another stock. This can be seen

from �� = (��1; ��2) = (�

�b ; �

�q)�

�1 with ��b = (�b1;t+ �

b2;t�)= . This is in contrast to the single-

stock jump-di¤usion model considered in Liu, et al (2003), where they demonstrate that a

risk averse investor is fearful of both negative and positive jumps by reducing the magnitude

of her position (jump exposure in the single-stock model) in the stock with increasing jump

intensity, despite more positively skewed returns caused by positive jumps. The reason is

that, in a single-stock model, there is no bene�t of diversi�cation and the portfolio�s exposure

to di¤usion is proportional to that to jumps, and hence, a reduction in exposure to jump will

lead to reduction in exposure to di¤usion. As a result, the investor will reduce investments

with sharp unforeseeable movements. In contrast, an investor can choose the di¤usion and

jump exposures e�b and e�q separately in a multi-stock model to diversify risk, and, in general,the portfolio�s exposure to di¤usion is no longer proportional to that to jumps. Furthermore,

the exposure to a jump is the optimal portfolio weights in a one-period pure jump model and

is determined by the problem (25). And hence, the investor behaves myopically. As a result,

the optimal portfolio weight in the pure-jump market (or exposure to the jump in the original

market) is positively related to the mean-variance portfolio, which is mv(�) = c��q1�+ �q2

�for some c > 0 in this case. Obviously, mv(�) decreases with � if �q1 > 0.

We now turn to the comparison of impacts of risk aversion and ambiguity aversion to the

jump intensity on the jump exposure. Equation (21) says that the jump exposure decreases

with the risk aversion coe¢ cient : By contrast,@e��q@�

> 0 suggests that the jump exposure

increases with the ambiguity aversion coe¢ cient �; implying the ambiguity aversion does not

reinforce the risk aversion. This is in striking contrast to the �ndings of Maenhout (2004),

Uppal and Wang (2003) and Liu (2011) in pure di¤usion models. To put it into perspective,

26

Page 27: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

let us consider the investor�s one-period utility function without penalty in Appendix E

D(�q; e�) = e�q(�q1 + �q2e�) + 1

1� e�Z

E

[(e�qz + 1)1� � 1]�(dz):From the proof in Appendix E, the (24) implies that given e�q; the utility function D(�q; e�) isincreasing with the jump intensity e�: And thus, more ambiguity averse investor worries aboutsmaller jump intensity e�, namely, less frequent jumps, or equivalently, @��

@�< 0. In other

words, once jump risk is su¢ ciently compensated, that is, �q2 is big enough as indicated

by (24), the ambiguity averse investor worries about less frequent jumps instead of more

frequent jumps. This suggests that a more ambiguity averse investor in the one-period

market adjust the excess expected return �q1;t + �q2;t� downward by reducing � in the worst

case model. This is similar to the ambiguity aversion in a pure-di¤usion model investigated

in Maenhout (2004), in which the expected return of stock in the worst case is less than

the one in the reference model. And moreover, according to (22), given a smaller �, the

investor increases the jump exposure e��q since @e��q@�� < 0 given �q1 > 0: As a result, a more

ambiguity averse investor has a bigger jump exposure. Intuitively, in pure di¤usion models,

ambiguity aversion leads to an adjustment of the drift term in stock returns but leaves higher

moments unchanged, so it is observationally equivalent to increasing risk aversion. In our

paper, we study the aversion to model uncertainty associated with jump parameters. With

a jump-di¤usion process, the ambiguity aversion to jump related uncertainties leads to an

adjustment in higher moments. More precisely, the imprecise estimation of jump intensity

a¤ects the �rst and higher moments of stock returns. As a result, the ambiguity aversion

coe¢ cient � a¤ects the �rst and higher moments of stock returns. And furthermore, an

investor with a CRRA utility takes all moments into account when making optimal portfolio

27

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choice and hence risk aversion and ambiguity aversion a¤ects the investment behavior in

di¤erent ways.

5 Conclusion

Solving the optimal dynamic portfolio selection problem for an incomplete market with or

without model uncertainty is a daunting task due to the curse of dimensionality. This paper

proposes a novel approach to the intertemporal portfolio selection problem in jump-di¤usion

models where the investor is averse not only to risk but also to model uncertainty. More

speci�cally, based on the duality-martingale method and the minimax theorem, we evaluate

the probability of the worst case scenario and the indirect value function by solving a pathwise

optimization problem. Then, the optimal portfolio rule can be readily obtained via the HJB

equation. One appealing feature of our approach is that our method can be used to consider

a large number of assets and state variables in a model with ambiguity aversion to jump

risk. Our approach also circumvents the problem of dimensionality.

Finally we use a two-stock model to illustrate that unlike in the pure-di¤usion models

explored in the existing literature, ambiguity aversion to jump parameters may not a¤ect an

investor�s behavior in the same way as increased risk aversion.

A Proof of proposition 1

As in Jin and Zhang (2012), we have

E�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#=

1

�(k)t

Et[�(k)t+�t ln(�

(k)t+�t)� �

(k)t ln(�

(k)t )]:

28

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Applying Ito�s lemma to the function f(x) = x lnx and the equation (2) gives

d[�(k)t ln(�

(k)t )] = �k

ZAk

[f(�(k)t� + �

(k)t� (#k(t) k(t; z)� 1))� f(�

(k)t� )

�f 0(�(k)t� )�(k)t� (#k(t) k(t; z)� 1))]�k(dz)dt

+

ZAk

[f(�(k)t� + �

(k)t� (#k(t) k(t; z)� 1))� f(�

(k)t� )]qk(dt; dz)

= �k

ZAk

[#k(t) k(t; z) ln(#k k(t; z)) + 1� #k(t) k(t; z)]�(k)t��k(dz)dt

+

ZAk

[f(�(k)t� + �

(k)t� (#k k(t; z)� 1))� f(�

(k)t� )]qk(dt; dz):

Hence

E�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#=

1

�(k)t

Et[�(k)t+�t ln(�

(k)t+�t)� �

(k)t ln(�

(k)t )]

= �k

ZAk

[#k(t) k(t; z) ln(#k k(t; z)) + 1� #k(t) k(t; z)]�k(dz)�t:

We now turn to the proof of (7). Recall �(x) = (1 � )x and > 1: Then from the

results above, we have

��E�t (Ut+�t)

�E�t (Ut+�t)

n�dXk=1

1

'kE�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#

= (1� )

n�dXk=1

�k'k

ZAk

[#k(t) k(t; z) ln(#k k(t; z)) + 1� #k(t) k(t; z)]�k(dz)�t

� H(�t)�t � Ht�t:

It is evident that H(�t) � 0 because x lnx+ 1� x � 0 for x > 0 and 1� < 0.

29

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Hence,

��E�t (Ut+�t)

� n�dXk=1

1

'kE�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#+ E�

t (Ut+�t)

= (1 +Ht�t)E�t (Ut+�t):

We consider the buy-and-hold strategy of investing all wealth in the bond at time 0. It

is su¢ cient to consider only those admissible dynamic strategies which are not worse than

the buy-and-hold strategy. We use W0(w0) to denote the set of wealth processes generated

by the such admissible dynamic strategies. In the sequel, we only consider wealth process

W 2 W0(w0) .

As a result, we shall have E�t [U(WT )] � E�

t [U(er(T�t)Wt)] � U(er(T�t)Wt) � U(Wt). In

particular E�T��t[U(WT )] � U(WT��t): Then, by noticing HT��t < 0 and U(WT��t) < 0;

for �t su¢ ciently small, we have

UT��t = inf�(1 +HT��t�t)E

�T��t(UT )

= inf�(1 +HT��t�t)E

�T��t [U(WT )]

� inf�(1 +HT��t�t)U(WT��t) � U(WT��t):

Similarly and backwardly, we can prove that 0 � Et[Us] � U(Wt) for s � t.

30

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For a �xed W 2 W0(w0); let �� denote an optimal solution to the problem (4), then

Ut = (1 +Ht�t)E��

t (Ut+�t)

= E��

t (eHt�tUt+�t) + o(�t)E��

t (Ut+�t)

= E��

t (eHt�tUt+�t) + o(�t)U(Wt)

= E��

t (eHt�tE��

t+�t[eHt+�t�tUt+2�t]) + 2o(�t)U(Wt)

= E��

t (eHt�teHt+�t�tUt+2�t) + 2o(�t)U(Wt)

:::

= E��

t (e(Ht+Ht+�t+:::+HT��t)�tUT ) +

(T � t)

�to(�t)U(Wt)

! E��

t

heR Tt HsdsUT

i; as �t! 0: (26)

Therefore, we see that the continuous-time version of the utility function is given by

Ut = inf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsUT

i:

Next we show that

J(t;Wt; Xt) = supW

Ut = supWinf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i= inf

�supW

E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i:

Without loss of generality, we suppose n� d � 1; �k � �, Ak � A, that is, there is only one

type of jumps in the remainder of this proof.

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Page 32: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Note

(1 +Ht�t)E�t (Ut+�t) = (1 +Ht�t)Et

��t+�t�t

Ut+�t

= (1 +Ht�t)Et

24e�(1�RA # (z)�(dz))�t N(�t)Yi=1

# (zi)Ut+�t

35= (1 +Ht�t)Et

he�(1�

RA # (z)�(dz))�tUt+�tjN(�t) = 0

ie���t

+(1 +Ht�t)Et

he�(1�

RA # (z)�(dz))�t# (z1)Ut+�tjN(�t) = 1

i(��t) e���t + o(�t)

= (1 +Ht�t)Et (Ut+�tjN(�t) = 0)

��Et��Z

A

# (z)�(dz)

�Ut+�tjN(�t) = 0

��t

+�e���tEt [# (z1)Ut+�tjN(�t) = 1]�t+ o(�t)

=

�1 +Ht�t� ��t

ZA

# (z)�(dz)

�Et (Ut+�tjN(�t) = 0)

+�e���tEt [# (z1)Ut+�tjN(�t) = 1]�t+ o(�t)

:= B(# ;W ; �t) + o(�t)

Note that the L1(�) =�x :RAjxjd�(z) <1

is a Hausdor¤ space under the weak topol-

ogy and the set de�ned by (3) is a compact set under the condition (8). Note that given

condition (8), 1+Ht�t���tRA# (z)d�(z) is positive for �t su¢ ciently small. Thus, it is

not di¢ cult to verify that B(# ;W ; �t) is a convex function of # and a concave function

of W . Then we can use Theorem 2 of the minimax result in Fan (1953) and the approach

used in the proof of Lemma 3.4 of Schied and Wu (2005) to get the following equality:

supWinf�B(# ;W ; �t) = inf

�supW

B(# ;W ; �t):

32

Page 33: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Hence

supWinf�

(��E�t (Ut+�t)

� n�dXk=1

1

'kE�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#+ E�

t (Ut+�t)

)� sup

Winf�B(# ;W ; �t) = inf

�supW

B(# ;W ; �t)

� inf�supW

(��E�t (Ut+�t)

� n�dXk=1

1

'kE�t

"ln

�(k)t+�t

�(k)t

!#+ E�

t (Ut+�t)

):= inf

�supW

Vt:

Furthermore, in virtue of (26), we have

����supWinf�Vt � sup

Winf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i����� sup

W

����inf� Vt � inf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i����� sup

Wsup�

���Vt � E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i���! 0 as �t! 0:

Hence

supWinf�Vt ! sup

Winf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i; as �t! 0:

Similarly,

inf�supW

Vt ! inf�supW

E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i:

Therefore, we have

J(t;Wt; Xt) = supW

Ut = supWinf�E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i= lim

�t!0supWinf�Vt = lim

�t!0inf�supW

Vt = inf�supW

E�t

heR Tt HsdsU(WT )

i:

This complete the proof of (7). �

33

Page 34: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

B Proof of proposition 3

We �rst prove the result (17). To this end, de�ne the convex conjugate of U(x):

V (y) = supx>0(U(x)� xy) =

1� y1�

1 :

From Proposition 1, the utility function can be rewritten as

Ut = E�t

�exp

�Z T

t

Hsds

�W 1� T

1�

�= DtE

�t

��(t; T )

W 1� T

1�

where Dt = E�t

hexp

�R TtHsds

�iand �(t; T ) =

exp(R Tt Hsds)Dt

. According to Schied and Wu

(2005),

J(t;Wt; Xt) = inf�Dt inf

y>0(v(y) +Wty)

where

v(y) = inf�2Q�

E�t

24�(t; T )V0@y ��(t; T ) exp

��R Ttrds�

�(t; T )

1A35 :Thus, by noticing > 1;

v(y) =

1� y1�

1 sup�2Q�

E�t

�exp

���1� 1

�Z T

t

rds

��(t; T )

1 ��(t; T )

1� 1

and consequently,

J(t;Wt; Xt) =W 1� t

1�

sup�sup�2Q�

E�t

�exp

�1

Z T

t

(Hs + (1� )r)ds

���(t; T )

1� 1

�!

;

completing the proof of (17).

The proof of (18) of Proposition 3 will be broken into several lemmas that are organized

34

Page 35: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

into two subsections. We �rst evaluate sup�2Q� in (18). The Fenchel Duality Theorem plays

an important role in the proofs below. For more details about this theorem and relevant

notation, see Chapter 7 of Lunberger (1969). More speci�cally, the theorem states that

Let f be a proper convex function on set C and let g be a proper concave function on set

D. Suppose the regularity conditions are satis�ed, then the following equality holds

minx2C\D

(f(x)� g(x)) = maxx�2C�\D�

(g�(x�)� f ?(x�));

where f � is the convex conjugate of f on C�={x�jf �(x�) < 1g (also referred to as the

Fenchel-Legendre transform) and g� is the concave conjugate of g on D�={x�jg�(x�) > �1g.

That is,

f ? (x�) := sup fhx�; xi � f (x)jx 2 Cg ;

g� (x�) := inf fhx�; xi � g (x)jx 2 Dg ;

where hx�; xi will be de�ned later.

B.1 Auxiliary results for proof of (18)

Now we apply the Fenchel Duality Theorem to solve the following optimization problem:

supx2Xx�0

ZAk

�x1�

1 (z)�

�1� 1

�x(z)

���k(dz) (27)

subject to the constraint

ZAk

x(z)z��k(dz) =

ZAk

x(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = ��qk��k

(28)

35

Page 36: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where

Sgn(z) =

8>>>>>><>>>>>>:�1; 8z < 0;

0; 8z = 0;

1; 8z > 0:

The constraint (28) is obtained from the equations (14) and (12), and

��

k(z) =

Z z

�1jsj��k(ds)

for k 2 f1; :::; n� dg. X is a linear normal space de�ned as follows.

X =

�x(z) :

ZAk

jx(z)j��k(dz) <1�

with norm

jjxjj =ZAk

jx(z)j��k(dz):

Then, the dual space X� of X is

X� = fx�(z) : x�(z) 2 L1(��k)g:

De�ne a concave function:

g0(x) =

8>><>>:x1�

1 �

�1� 1

�x; 8x � 0;

�1; 8x < 0:(29)

Then (27) is equivalent to the following problem:

supx2X

ZAk

g0(x(z))��k(dz)

36

Page 37: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

subject to ZAk

x(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = ��qk��k:

To employ the Fenchel Duality Theorem to solve the above problem, we lay out relevant

notation below. Set

D = X;

C =

(x 2 X :

ZAk

x(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = ��qk��k

);

f(x) = 0;

g(x) =

ZAk

g0(x(z))��k(dz):

We �rst calculate the functional f � conjugate to f , given by

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i � f(x)] = sup

x2C

ZAk

x(z)x�(z)��

k(dz)

where

hx; x�i =ZAk

x(z)x�(z)��

k(dz); x 2 X and x� 2 X�:

Lemma 7 The conjugate space C� of f �(x�) is given by

C� = fx� : f �(x�) <1g = fcSgn(z) : c 2 Rg

and

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i] = �c�

qk

��k; for x� = cSgn(z) 2 C�:

37

Page 38: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Proof. De�ne a linear functional on X as

f0(x) =

ZAk

x(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz)

and its zero space is given by

Ker(f0) =

�x 2 X : f0(x) =

ZAk

x(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = 0

�:

Note that for any x(1) 2 Ker(f0), x(2) 2 C and integer N , Nx(1) + x(2) 2 C. Thus, we must

have hx(1); x�i = 0 in order that

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i] <1:

By Lemma 1 on Page 188 in Luenberger (1969), there exist a constants c, such that hx; x�i =

cf0(x) for any x 2 C. That is,

ZAk

x(z)x�(z)��

k(dz) =

ZAk

cx(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz)

implying x�(z) = cSgn(z) and C� = fcSgn(z) : c 2 Rg. Moreover,

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i] = sup

x2C

ZAk

cx(z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = �c�qk��k;

completing the proof.

We now turn to the calculation of the functional g� conjugate to g. According to the

38

Page 39: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

de�nition, for x� 2 X�,

g�(x�) = infx2D[hx; x�i � g(x)]

= infx2D

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(x(z))]��k(dz):

The conjugate space of g�(x�) is D� = fx� : g�(x�) > �1g. When using the Fenchel Duality

Theorem, we only need to calculate g�(x�) for x� 2 C�. To this end, we have the following

result.

Lemma 8 For x� = cSgn(z) 2 C�,

g�(x�) = infx2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(x(z))]��k(dz)

=

ZAk

infx2R[xx�(z)jzj � g0(x)]�

�k(dz)

= �1

�1� 1

� �1 ZAk

�cz + 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz): (30)

Proof. The inequality � is trivial, namely,

infx2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(x(z))]��k(dz)

�ZAk

infx2R[xx�(z)jzj � g0(x)]�

�k(dz):

We now prove �. We now solve the optimization problem

infx2R[xcjzjSgn(z)� g0(x)]

39

Page 40: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where g0 is de�ned in (29). It is easy to obtain the optimal solution as

bx = �cjzjSgn(z) + 1� 1

�� �1� 1

� (31)

and the corresponding optimal objective function is

infy2R[xcjzjSgn(z)� g0(x)]

= �1

�1� 1

� �1�cz + 1� 1

�1� :

If c < 1� 1 , bx 2 X and therefore, (30) holds true; if c = 1� 1

, then bx = (z + 1)� and we

will prove (30) still holds true. De�ne

xm(z) =

�z + 1 +

1

m

��

then xm 2 X and converges increasingly to bx as m tends to in�nity. Note that

g(xm) =

ZAk

[xm(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(xm(z))]�

�k(dz)

= ��1� 1

�1

m

ZAk

xm(z)��k(dz)�

1

ZAk

�z + 1 +

1

m

�1� ��k(dz)

� �1

ZAk

�z + 1 +

1

m

�1� ��k(dz):

Hence,

infx2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(x(z))]��k(dz)

� g(xm) � �1

ZAk

�z + 1 +

1

m

�1� ��k(dz):

40

Page 41: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

and thus, by the Monotone Convergence Theorem,

infx2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)jzj � g0(xm(z))]��k(dz)

� limm!1

"�1

ZAk

�z + 1 +

1

m

�1� ��k(dz)

#= �1

ZAk

(z + 1)1� ��k(dz)

= g(bx) = ZAk

infx2R[xcjzjSgn(z)� g0(x)]�

�k(dz);

completing the proof.

From the above lemma , we have

C� \D� =

(cSgn(z) :

ZAk

�cSgn(z)jzj+ 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz) <1

):

Without causing any confusion, we set

C� \D� =

(c :

ZAk

�cz + 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz) <1

): (32)

Consequently, by the Fenchel Duality Theorem, we can establish the following result.

Lemma 9

supx2C

ZAk

�x1�

1 (z)�

�1� 1

�x(z)

���k(dz)

= infc2C�\D�

"�c�

qk

��k+1

�1� 1

� �1 ZAk

�cz + 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz)

#:

41

Page 42: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Proof. By using the de�nition of functions f(x) and g(x),we obtain

supx2C

ZAk

�x1�

1 (z)�

�1� 1

�x(z)

���k(dz)

= supx2C[g(x)� f(x)]

= infc2C�\D�

[f �(x�)� g�(x�)]

= infc2C�\D�

"�c�

qk

��k+1

�1� 1

� �1 ZAk

�cz + 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz)

#;

with the second equality following the Fenchel Duality Theorem and completing the proof.

Before concluding this section, we present the following result of two properties of optimal

solution to the minimization problem above, which will be used in Appendix B.2.

Lemma 10 If c�k is the optimal solution to the problem in Lemma 9, then

ZAk

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) <1

and Z t

0

ZAk

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz)ds <1:

Proof. We prove this lemma for Ak = (�1; 0) since the other two cases can be dealt with

similarly. As c�k � 1� 1 , it su¢ ces to show

Z �1=2

�1

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) <1 (33)

and Z t

0

Z �1=2

�1

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz)ds <1: (34)

42

Page 43: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Let

F (c) = �c�qk

��k+1

�1� 1

� �1 ZAk

�cz + 1� 1

�1� ��k(dz):

Then

F 0(c) = � �qk

��k��1� 1

� ZAk

z

�cz + 1� 1

�� ��k(dz)

F 00(c) =

�1� 1

� ZAk

z2�cz + 1� 1

�� �1��k(dz) > 0

implying that F (c) is a convex function.

We now consider two cases: c�k < 1 � 1 and c�k = 1 � 1

. If c�k < 1 � 1

, then c�k satis�es

the �rst-order condition as follows

F 0(c�k) = ��qk��k��1� 1

� ZAk

z

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) = 0

implying

Z �1=2

�1

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz)

� �2Z �1=2

�1z

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz)

� �2Z 0

�1z

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) =

2�qk��k

�1� 1

�� <1 (35)

yielding (33). If c�k = 1� 1 , then c�k satis�es the following condition:

F 0(c�k) = ��qk��k��1� 1

� ZAk

z

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) � 0:

43

Page 44: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Hence, like (35), we can show

Z �1=2

�1

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) �

2�qk��k

�1� 1

�� <1 (36)

�nishing the proof of (33).

Combining (35) and (36) gives

Z t

0

Z �1=2

�1

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� ��k(dz) <1

�nishing the proof of (34).

B.2 Proof of (18)

We now turn to the calculation of sup�Q� in (18) of Proposition 3. For simplicity, we let t = 0

in the proof. In this case, as mentioned in Bardhan and Chao (1996), the set � comprises

the triples � = (v; �; �), with � and � being strictly positive, satisfying (14) or equivalently,

v(t) = e�b (37)ZAk

�k(t)�k(t; z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = � �qk

��k

and ZE

�k(t; z)��k(dz) = 1

for t � 0 and k = 1; :::; n�d. We let �d denote the family of the triples � = f(v(t); �(t); �(t))gt2[0;T ]

solving the following optimization problem:

44

Page 45: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

sup�2�d

ZAk

�(�k(t)�k(t; z))

1� 1 � 1 +

�1� 1

�(1� �k(t)�k(t; z))

���k(dz) (38)

subject to ZAk

�k(t)�k(t; z)Sgn(z)��

k(dz) = ��qk��k;

for k 2 f1; :::; n � dg. By letting x(z) = �k(s)�k(s; z), it is straightforward to conclude

that the optimization problem above is equivalent to the optimization problem (27) with the

constraint (28).

We prove the following lemma.

Lemma 11

sup�2�

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i= sup

�2�dE�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i;

where � = �(0; T ) = exp�R T

0H(�s)ds

�.

Proof. It su¢ ces to prove

sup�2�

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i� sup

�2�dE�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i: (39)

Let Nk(t; T ) denote the number of k-th type of jump in the interval (t; T ]. Note that for any

t 2 [0; T ],

��(T )1� 1

= (��(t))1� 1

(��(t; T ))1� 1

45

Page 46: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where

��(t; T ) = exp

��Z T

t

vT (s)dz(s)� 12

Z T

t

jjv(s)jj2ds�

�n�dYk=1

Nk(t;T )Yi=1

(�k(tki )�k(t

ki ; z

ki ))

� exp�Z T

t

ZAk

(1� �k(s)�k(s; z))��k�

�k(dz)ds

�:

Hence the optimal v�(t) and #�k(t) �k(t; z) only depend on the state variables Xt. Thus, if

we let �X denote the family of � with v(t) and �k(t)�k(t; z) only depending on the state

variables Xt, then

sup�2�

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i= sup

�2�XE�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i:

Hence, to prove (39), it su¢ ces to show the following result:

sup�2�X

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i� sup

�2�dE�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i: (40)

De�ne

e��(t) =

n�dYk=1

Nk(t)Yi=1

(�k(tki )�k(t

ki ; z

ki ))

1� 1

� exp�Z t

0

ZAk

(1� (�k(s)�k(s; z))1� 1

)��k�

�k(dz)ds

�:

46

Page 47: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Note that e��(t) can be rewritten ase��(t) =

n�dYk=1

Nk(t)Yi=1

e�k(tki )e�k(tki ; zki )� exp

�Z t

0

ZAk

(1� e�k(s)e�k(s; z))��k��k(dz)ds�

where

e�k(s) = (�k(s))1� 1

ZEk

(�k(s; z))1� 1

��k(dz)

e�k(s; z) =(�k(s; z))

1� 1 Z

Ak

(�k(s; z))1� 1

��k(dz)

(41)

By Jensen�s inequality,

ZAk

(�k(s; z))1� 1

��k(dz) �

�ZAk

�k(s; z)�k(dz)

�1� 1

= 1:

It is not di¢ cult to see

Z T

0

e�k(s)��kds �Z T

0

(�k(s))1� 1

��kds

�Z T

0

��1� 1

��k(s) + 1

���kds <1:

Thus, for � 2 �locX , e��(t) is a local martingale from C4 in Bremaud (1981). And moreover,

noticing that the process e��(t) is non-negative and the state variables Xt do not include

jumps, we have

E�he��(T )jFX

T

i� 1; (42)

47

Page 48: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where FXT is the �-algebra generated by fXt; 0 � t � Tg. De�ne

fk(�k�k; t) =

ZAk

�(�k(t)�k(t; z))

1� 1 � 1 +

�1� 1

�(1� �k(t)�k(t; z))

���k�

�k(dz):

Note that

�1 (��(T ))

1� 1 = �

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 e��(T ) exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(�k�k; t)dt

!

hence, by (42), for � 2 �X ,

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i= E�

hE�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1 jFX

T

ii= E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 E�

he��(T )jFXT

iexp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(�k�k; t)dt

!#

� E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(�k�k; t)dt

!#: (43)

Let ��k(s)��k(s; z); k = 1; ::n� d; denote the optimal solution to the problem (38). By (31) in

the proof of Lemma 8,

��k(s)��k(s; z) =

�c�kz + 1�

1

�� �1� 1

and by Lemma 10,

ZAk

e��k(s; z)��k(dz) = 1Z t

0

e��k(s)��kds < 1;

48

Page 49: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where e��k(s) and e��k(s; z) are de�ned according to (41).As in Bremaud (1981), we de�ne the following stopping time

Tn =

8>><>>:infntje���(t�) +Xn�d

k=1

R t0e��k(s)�kds � n

o;

or 1:

According to C4 in Bremaud (1981), e���(t ^ Tn) is a martingale, and, like (42),E�he���(T ^ Tn)jFX

T

i= 1:

Therefore, by (43),

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i� E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 E� [e���(T ^ Tn)jFX

T ] exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

= E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 e���(T ^ Tn) exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

� E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 e���(T ^ Tn) exp

n�dXk=1

Z T^Tn

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

= E�

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1

�e�q��(T ^ Tn)�1� 1

�(44)

with the second inequality following from the result

fk(��k�

�k; T ) � fk(�

�k�

�k; T ^ Tn)

because

x1�1 � 1 +

�1� 1

�(1� x) � 0; for x � 0:

49

Page 50: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

We now prove

supnE

(�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1

�e�q��(T ^ Tn)�b�(T )�1� 1

� �1)<1:

By the de�nition of � given in Lemma 11, � � 1 since H(�s) � 0. Note that the non-negative

process e�q��(t ^ Tn)�b�(t) is a local martingale and thus a supermartingale. As a result,supnE�

(�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1

�e�q��(T ^ Tn)�b�(T )�1� 1

� �1)

� supnE�nhe�q��(T ^ Tn)�b�(T )io � 1 <1

implying the sequence �1

�e�q��(T ^ Tn)�b�(T )�1� 1 is uniformly integrable since

�1 > 1, and

therefore, by (44),

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i� lim

n!1E�

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1

�e�q��(T ^ Tn)�1� 1

�= E�

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1

�e�q��(T )�1� 1

�= E�

he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (���(T ))

1� 1

i

for each � 2 �X . Here we have used the fact that �b�(T ) = �b��(T ) since v(t) = e�b by (37).Hence (40) is proved and this completes the proof of the lemma.

We now turn to sup� in (18) by solving the following optimization problem:

sup�E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i:

50

Page 51: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

In virtue of Lemma 11, we have

E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i= E�

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

= E

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�(T )�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#:

Note that E��(T )jFX

T

�= 1: Hence

sup�E�he�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 (��(T ))

1� 1

i= sup

�E

"E

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�(T )�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!�����FXT

##

= sup�E

"E��(T )jFX

T

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

= sup�E

"e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds�

1 ��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

n�dXk=1

Z T

0

fk(��k�

�k; t)dt

!#

= sup�E

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds

��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

�Z T

0

g(�)dt

��;

where

g(�) =n�dXk=1

gk(�); (45)

gk(�) =(1� )�k 'k

ZAk

[#k k(t; z) ln(#k k(t; z)) + 1� #k k(t; z)]�k(dz)

+ fk(��k�

�k; t);

51

Page 52: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

with #k > 0 andZAk

k(t; z)�k(dz) = 1: Note, from Lemma 9,

fk(��k�

�k; t) =

ZAk

[((��k(s)��k(s; z))

1� 1 � 1)

+

�1� 1

�(1� ��k(s)�

�k(s; z)]�k#k k(t; z)]�k(dz)

= infck2C�\D�

(�ck�qk +

ZAk

"1

�1� 1

� �1�ckz + 1�

1

�1� �1

��k#k k(t; z)�k(dz)

�= inf

ck2C�\D�

ZAk

(�ck�qk +

"1

�1� 1

� �1�ckz + 1�

1

�1� �1

��k#k k(t; z)

��k(dz)

Hence

gk(�) = infck2C�\D�

ZAk

hk(ck; #k k)�k(dz)

where

hk(c; #k k) =(1� )�k 'k

[#k k(t; z) ln(#k k(t; z)) + 1� #k k(t; z)]

�c�qk +1

"�1� 1

� �1�cz + 1� 1

�1� � 1#�k#k k(t; z):

For illustrative purposes, we �x #k = 1, that is, the investor is confortable with the

estimate of intensity of the kth jump but ambiguity averse to its size distribution. The

general case can be handled in a similar manner. For simplicity, we further assume that the

support Ak of the jump size is Ak = (�1;1). Then, by (32), C� \ D� = [0; 1 � 1= ). We

52

Page 53: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

will prove the following

sup�E

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds

��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

�Z T

0

g(�)dt

��= E

�e�(1�

1 )R T0 rds

��b�(T )

�1� 1 exp

�Z T

0

sup�g(�)dt

��; (46)

where

sup�g(�) = sup

g(�)

= sup

n�dXk=1

infck2C�\D�

ZAk

hk(ck; #k k)�k(dz)

=n�dXk=1

sup k

infck2C�\D�

ZAk

hk(ck; #k k)�k(dz)

=n�dXk=1

infck2C�\D�

sup k

ZAk

hk(ck; #k k)�k(dz)

subject toZAk

k(t; z)�k(dz) = 1; k = 1; :::; n�d: Here we make use of the Minimax Theorem

for the exchange infc2C�\D� and sup k , noting that the function is concave with respect to

k and convex with respect to c. As before, it su¢ ces to consider the each optimization

problem infc2C�\D� sup k separately.

As before, we now employ the Fenchel Duality Theorem and same notation again to solve

the above problem. To this end, de�ne

D = X =

�x :

ZAk

jx(z)j�k(dz) <1�

C =

�x 2 X :

ZAk

x(z)�k(dz) = 1

�f(x) = 0

�g(x) =

ZAk

g0(x(z))�k(dz):

53

Page 54: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

where

g0(x) =

8>><>>:hk(c; x); 8x � 0;

�1; 8x < 0:

We �rst calculate the functional f � conjugate to f , given by

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i � f(x)] = sup

x2C

ZAk

x(z)x�(z)�k(dz)

where

hx; x�i =ZAk

x(z)x�(z)�k(dz); x 2 X and x� 2 X�:

The following result can be derived in the exactly same way as Lemma 7 and hence its

proof is omitted to save the space.

Lemma 12 The Conjugate Space eC� of f �(x�) is given byeC� = fx� : f �(x�) <1g = fec : ec 2 Rg

and

f �(x�) = supx2C[hx; x�i] = ec; for x� = ec 2 eC�:

We now turn to the calculation of the functional �g� conjugate to �g. According to the

de�nition, for x� 2 X�,

�g�(x�) = infx2D[hx; x�i � �g(x)]

= infx2D

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)� g0(x(z))]�k(dz)

= infx2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)� g0(x(z))]�k(dz):

54

Page 55: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

The Conjugate Space of �g�(x�) is eD� = fx� : �g�(x�) > �1g. When using the Fenchel

Duality Theorem, we only need to calculate �g�(x�) for x� 2 eC�. To this end, we have thefollowing result.

Lemma 13 For x� = ec 2 C�,�g�(x�) = inf

x2X

ZAk

[x(z)x�(z)� g0(x(z))]�k(dz)

=

ZAk

infx2R[xx�(z)� g0(x)]�k(dz): (47)

Proof: Like Lemma 8, the inequality � is trivial, and it su¢ ces to prove �. To this end,

consider the minimization problem

infx2R[xec� g0(x)]:

Its �rst-order condition is given by

ec� 1

"�1� 1

� �1�cz + 1� 1

�1� � 1#�k �

(1� )�k 'k

lnx = 0:

Solving the above for x, we have

�k(z; c; ~c) = exp

( 'k

(1� )�k

"ec� 1

"�1� 1

� �1�cz + 1� 1

�1� � 1#�k

#); (48)

giving the probability of the worst case. And furthermore, it is not di¢ cult to verify that

for c < 1� 1 ; Z

Ak

�k(z; c; ~c)�k(dz) <1;

55

Page 56: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

implying �k(z; c; ~c) 2 X and (47). And then the optimal value is

infx2R[xx�(z)� g0(x)] = �k(z; c; ~c)ec� g0(

�k(z; c; ~c))

= c�qk �(1� )�k 'k

(1� �k(z; c; ~c)):

As a result

supx2C\D

[�g(x)� f(x)]

= infec2 eC�k\ eD�k

[f �(x�)� �g�(x�)]

= infec2 eC�k\ eD�k

�ec� c�qk +(1� )�k 'k

ZAk

(1� �k(z; c; ~c))�k(dz)

�= infec2 eC�k\ eD�

k

ZAk

�ec� c�qk +(1� )�k 'k

(1� �k(z; c; ~c))

��k(dz)

and therefore

sup�g(�) =

n�dXk=1

infck2C�k\D�

k;eck2 eC�k\ eD�k

ZAk

gk(z; ck;eck)�k(dz);where

gk(z; c;ec) = ec� c�qk +(1� )�k 'k

(1� �k(z; c; ~c)):

C Proof of proposition 4

We now use the results obtained for CRRA utility function and the results in Bellini and

Frittelli (2002) to solve the optimal portfolio choice problem with a HARA utility function.

First we derive duality result for the model without ambiguity aversion and then we obtain

duality result for the model with ambiguity aversion by using the same idea as before. Note

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Page 57: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

that

U�U 0�1(y)

�� U(x) + y

�U 0�1(y)� x

�; 8x > 0; y > 0;

where U 0�1(y) = I(y) = y�1 +b: For simplicity, we consider t = 0 and let �t = exp

��R Ttr(s)ds

�.

Let Q denote the set of all equivalent martingale measures. Thus, for any � 2 Q and terminal

wealth WT , we have

U�U 0�1(y�0�T )

�� U(WT ) + y�0�T

�U 0�1(y�0�T )�WT

�;

and

E�U�U 0�1(y�0�T )

��� E [U(WT )] ; (49)

where y satis�es

E��0�TU

0�1(y�0�T )�= W0; (50)

giving

y =Eh(�0�T )

1� 1

i (W0 � bE(�0�T ))

:

We now prove that there exists a � 2 Q such that (�0�T )� 1 can be replicated and hence

I(y�0�T ) = y�1 (�0�T )

� 1 + b can be replicated. By Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999)

and by considering the utility function 11� x

1� , we have that there exists a � 2 Q such that

(�0�T )� 1 can be replicated. Furthermore, according to (49), we have

u(W0) = E�U(U 0�1(y�T ))

�=(W0 � bE(�0�T ))

1�

1� Eh(�0�T )

1� 1

i ; (51)

with y satisfying (50).

57

Page 58: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

In the following, we use some results in Bellini and Frittelli (2002) to prove the following

u(W0) = inf&2Q

(W0 � bE(�0&T ))1�

1� Eh(�0&T )

1� 1

i :

To this end, we denote with L1 the space of essentially bounded random variables and de�ne

M0 = fW 2 L1 : E[�0&TW ] � W0 8& 2 Qg:

According to Lemma 1.1 and 1.2 of Bellini and Frittelli (2002) (note we do not need As-

sumption 1.3), we have

u(W0) = supW2M0

E[U(W )] (52)

By following (1.8) in Bellini and Frittelli (2002), we de�ne

U(W0; &; P ) = supW2M&

0

E[U(W )];

where M &0 = fW 2 L1 : E[�0&TW ] � W0g: It is easy to see from (52)

u(W0) = supW2M0

E[U(W )] � inf&2Q

U(W0; &; P ) (53)

since M0 v M &0 . As in Section 2.1 of Bellini and Frittelli (2002), we de�ne the concave

conjugate U�(x�) of the utility function U(x) as:

U�(x�) = infxfxx� � U(x)g:

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Page 59: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

In particular, for the HARA utility function U(x) in Section 3.2, we have

U�(x�) =

� 1(x�)1�

1 + bx�:

Hence, using Corollary 2.1 of Bellini and Frittelli (2002), we have

U(W0; &; P ) = min�2(0;1)

f�W0 � EP [U� (��0&T )]g

=(W0 � bE(�0&T ))

1�

1� Eh(�0&T )

1� 1

i

and hence, by (53),

u(W0) � inf&2Q

(W0 � bE(�0&T ))1�

1� Eh(�0&T )

1� 1

i :

From (51), we have

u(W0) = inf&2Q

(W0 � bE(�0&T ))1�

1� Eh(�0&T )

1� 1

i :

We now turn to the model with ambiguity aversion. By following the same approach as

that of Proposition 2, we can derive the indirect value function as

J(0;W0; X0) =1

1�

sup�sup�2Q�

(W0 � bE�(�0��(T )))1�

� E�

�exp

�1

Z T

0

(Hs + (1� )r)ds

���(T )

1� 1

�� :

59

Page 60: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

From (16),

E� [�0��(T )] = E���0�

b�(T )�

q�(T )

�= E�

�E���0�

b�(T )�

q�(T )jFX

T

��= E�

��0�

b�(T )E

���q�(T )jFX

T

��= E�

��0�

b�(T )

�;

since E���q�(T )jFX

T

�= 1, implying that E� [�0��(T )] is independent of �: And therefore,

J(0;W0; X0) =(W0 � bE

��0�

b�(T )

�)1�

1�

� sup�sup�2Q�

E�

�exp

�1

Z T

0

(Hs + (1� )r)ds

���(T )

1� 1

�!

=(W0 � bE

��0�

b�(T )

�)1�

1� (f(0; X0))

;

where f(0; X0) is given by Proposition 3. Likewise, we can show

J(t;Wt; Xt) =(Wt � bE

��t�

b�(t; T )

�)1�

1� (f(t;Xt))

:

D Proof of proposition 5

Note that the optimal portfolio weight � and the corresponding indirect value function J of

the investor�s problem satisfy the HJB equation (6) with � subject to some no-bankruptcy

constraints on jump exposures. Speci�cally, if the k-th jump size has support on (0;1), then

the exposure to this jump satis�es ��qk � 0; if it has support on (�1; 0), then the exposure

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Page 61: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

satis�es ��qk � 1; if it has support on (�1;1), then the exposure satis�es 0 � ��qk � 1.

Hence, the set Fk in (19) is given by

Fk =

8>>>>>><>>>>>>:(0;1); 8Ak = (0;1);

(�1; 1); 8Ak = (�1; 0);

(0; 1); 8Ak = (�1;1):

Without loss of generality, we assume all jumps are positive because other cases can be

handled in exactly the same manner. From Proposition 4, J(t;W;X) = (W�b�t)1� 1� (f(X; t)) ,

plugging it into above equation (6) and taking the �rst order condition with respect to �

lead to

0 = (b� r1n)W (W � b�t)� (f(X; t)) � �b�

>b �

>W 2(W � b�t)� �1(f(X; t))

+ �b�t�x>W (W � b�t)

� (f(X; t)) �1fX

+W (f(X; t)) n�dXk=1

�k

ZAk

[W (1 + ��qkz)� b�t]� �qkz�k(dz) (54)

+n�dXk=1

yk�qk

where (y1; :::; yn�d) are called Lagrangian Multipliers satisfying the standard complimentary

slackness conditions

��qk > 0; yk = 0 or ��qk = 0; yk � 0

for k = 1; :::; n� d. By the de�nition of the market price of risk e� given by (11), we have�

�e�be�q�= �be�b + �qe�q = b� r1n+�q(� � �)

61

Page 62: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

Hence, by using notation e�b and e�q, and noticing�qe�q = [�q1; :::;�q(n�d)](e�q1; :::;e�qn�d)> = n�dX

k=1

�qke�qk(54) can be rewritten as

0 = �bW (W � b�t)� (f(X; t))

�e�b � e�>b W (W � b�t)�1 + �t�

x>fXf

�+

n�dXk=1

�qkZk

= �

�W (W � b�t)

� (f(X; t)) �e�b � e�>b W (W � b�t)

�1 + �t�x> fX

f

�Z

where Z = (Z1; :::; Zn�d)> and

Zk = W (f(X; t)) �(W � b�t)

� (e�qk � �kak) + �k

ZAk

[W (1 + e�qkz)� b�t]� z�k(dz)

�+ yk:

Consequently, as � is invertible,

e�b � e�>b W (W � b�t)�1 + �t�

x>fXf= 0

Zk = W (f(X; t)) �(W � b�t)

� (e�qk � �kak) + �k

ZAk

[W (1 + e�qkz)� b�t]� z�k(dz)

�+yk = 0

(55)

for k = 1; :::; n � d. Furthermore, for each k, the �rst order condition (55) with constraint

implies that e��qk is the optimal solution to the problemmaxe�qk�0(f(X; t))

�e�qk(W � b�t)� W (e�qk � �kak) +

�k1�

ZAk

[W (1 + e�qkz)� b�t]1� �k(dz)

62

Page 63: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

which is identical to the problem (19). Hence, the optimal e��b is given bye��>b =

W � b�tW

"e�b + �t�

x>fXf

#

and the optimal e��qk solves the problem (19) for k = 1; :::; n� d, completing the proof. �

E Proof of proposition 6

As in Jin and Zhang (2012), we can use HJB equation (6) and Proposition 1 to show that

e��q and �� solve the following problem:sup�q2F

infe� D(�q; e�) = "e�q(�q1 + �q2e�) + 1

1� e�Z

E

[(e�qz + 1)1� � 1]�(dz) + e�(ln(e�=�)� 1)�

#;

(56)

where the �rst two terms on the right hand side are related to (19) while the last term is

associated with the penalty function. Noticing e��q and �� be interior optimal solutions to theoptimization problem above, we have the �rst-order conditions for e��q and �� given by

�q1 + �q2�� + ��

Z 1

�1z(1 + e��qz)� �(dz) = 0; (57)

and

�q2e��q + 1

1�

Z 1

�1[(1 + e��qz)1� � 1]�(dz) + 1

'ln

���

�= 0: (58)

Rearranging (58) gives (20). For (21), we di¤erentiate (57) with respect to and get

� @e��q@

Z 1

�1z2(1 + e��qz)� �1�(dz)

�Z 1

�1z(1 + e��qz)� ln(1 + e��qz)�(dz) = 0;

63

Page 64: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

implying (21). The negativity of@e��q@

follows from that z ln(1 + e��qz) > 0;8z > �1 since

e��q 2 [0; 1): Note that from (57),

�q2 +

Z 1

�1z(1 + e��qz)� �(dz) = � �q1�� : (59)

Di¤erentiating (57) with respect to ��, we have

�q2+

Z 1

�1z(1 + e��qz)� �(dz)

� ��@e��q@��

Z 1

�1z2(1 + e��qz)� �1�(dz) = 0; (60)

and therefore, combining (59) and the result above yields (22). We now turn to the proof of

(23). Di¤erentiating (57) and (58) with respect to ' and using (59), we have

�q1��@��

@'+ ��A

@e��q@'

= 0; (61)

and

1

��@��

@'= B +

'�q1��

@e��q@'

; (62)

Solving the two linear equations above gives (23). To prove@e��q@'

> 0, it su¢ ce to show B < 0

under the conditions given in Proposition 8. Let

f(x) =1

1�

Z 1

�1[1� (1 + xz)1� ]�(dz)� �q2x:

Noticing that f(x) is a strictly convex function on [0; 1], we haveB = f(e��q) < maxff(0); f(1)g.Furthermore, by assumption, the jump size is Y = exp(U) � 1 with U = N(�Y ; �

2Y ) and

64

Page 65: Duality Approaches to Robust Portfolio Choice

hence it is straightforward to calculate

f(1) =1

1�

Z 1

�1[1� (1 + z)1� ]�(dz)� �q2

=1

1�

�1� exp

�(1� )�Y +

(1� )2�2Y2

��� �q2; (63)

which is negative by assumption. Thus, we have B = maxff(0); f(1)g < 0 since f(0) = 0:

From (61) and by noticing@e��q@'

> 0 and �q1 > 0, we have@��

@'< 0; completing the proof.

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