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Main Authors: Kamma, Thijs, Pelsser, Antoon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13678
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author Kamma, Thijs
Pelsser, Antoon
author_facet Kamma, Thijs
Pelsser, Antoon
contents This paper provides a dual formulation of the optimal consumption problem with internal multiplicative habit formation. In this problem, the agent derives utility from the ratio of consumption to the internal habit component. Due to this multiplicative specification of the habit model, the optimal consumption problem is not strictly concave and incorporates irremovable path-dependency. As a consequence, standard Lagrangian techniques fail to supply a candidate for the corresponding dual formulation. Using Fenchel's Duality Theorem, we manage to identify a candidate formulation and prove that it satisfies strong duality. On the basis of this strong duality result, we are able to derive duality relations that stipulate how the optimal primal controls depend on the optimal dual controls and vice versa. {Moreover, using the dual formulation, we develop an analytical evaluation mechanism to bound the accuracy of approximations to the optimal solutions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13678
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dual Formulation of the Optimal Consumption problem with Multiplicative Habit Formation
Kamma, Thijs
Pelsser, Antoon
Mathematical Finance
This paper provides a dual formulation of the optimal consumption problem with internal multiplicative habit formation. In this problem, the agent derives utility from the ratio of consumption to the internal habit component. Due to this multiplicative specification of the habit model, the optimal consumption problem is not strictly concave and incorporates irremovable path-dependency. As a consequence, standard Lagrangian techniques fail to supply a candidate for the corresponding dual formulation. Using Fenchel's Duality Theorem, we manage to identify a candidate formulation and prove that it satisfies strong duality. On the basis of this strong duality result, we are able to derive duality relations that stipulate how the optimal primal controls depend on the optimal dual controls and vice versa. {Moreover, using the dual formulation, we develop an analytical evaluation mechanism to bound the accuracy of approximations to the optimal solutions.
title Dual Formulation of the Optimal Consumption problem with Multiplicative Habit Formation
topic Mathematical Finance
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13678