A dynamic competitive equilibrium model of irreversible capacity investment with stochastic demand and heterogeneous producers

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kardaras, Constantinos, Pavlis, Alexandros, Zervos, Mihail
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866914178694905856
author Kardaras, Constantinos
Pavlis, Alexandros
Zervos, Mihail
author_facet Kardaras, Constantinos
Pavlis, Alexandros
Zervos, Mihail
contents We formulate a continuous-time competitive equilibrium model of irreversible capacity investment in which a continuum of heterogeneous producers supplies a single non-durable good subject to exogenous stochastic demand. Each producer optimally adjusts both output and capacity over time in response to endogenous price signals, while investment decisions are irreversible. Market clearing holds continuously, with prices evolving endogenously to balance aggregate supply and demand through a constant-elasticity demand function driven by a stochastic base component. The model admits a mean-field interpretation, as each producer's decisions both influence and are influenced by the aggregate behaviour of all others. We show that the equilibrium price process can be expressed as a nonlinear functional of the exogenous base demand, leading to a three-dimensional singular stochastic control problem for each producer. We derive an explicit solution to the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, including a closed-form characterisation of the free-boundary surface separating investment and waiting regions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_03646
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A dynamic competitive equilibrium model of irreversible capacity investment with stochastic demand and heterogeneous producers
Kardaras, Constantinos
Pavlis, Alexandros
Zervos, Mihail
Probability
Optimization and Control
93E20, 91G80, 49L20, 91A15
We formulate a continuous-time competitive equilibrium model of irreversible capacity investment in which a continuum of heterogeneous producers supplies a single non-durable good subject to exogenous stochastic demand. Each producer optimally adjusts both output and capacity over time in response to endogenous price signals, while investment decisions are irreversible. Market clearing holds continuously, with prices evolving endogenously to balance aggregate supply and demand through a constant-elasticity demand function driven by a stochastic base component. The model admits a mean-field interpretation, as each producer's decisions both influence and are influenced by the aggregate behaviour of all others. We show that the equilibrium price process can be expressed as a nonlinear functional of the exogenous base demand, leading to a three-dimensional singular stochastic control problem for each producer. We derive an explicit solution to the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, including a closed-form characterisation of the free-boundary surface separating investment and waiting regions.
title A dynamic competitive equilibrium model of irreversible capacity investment with stochastic demand and heterogeneous producers
topic Probability
Optimization and Control
93E20, 91G80, 49L20, 91A15
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.03646