An Optimal Dividend Problem with Capital Injections over a Finite Horizon

Abstract

In this paper, we propose and solve an optimal dividend problem with capital injections over a finite time horizon. The surplus dynamics obeys a linearly controlled drifted Brownian motion that is reflected at the origin: dividends give rise to time-dependent instantaneous marginal profits, whereas capital injections are subject to time-dependent instantaneous marginal costs. The aim is to maximize the sum of a liquidation value at terminal time and of the total expected profits from dividends, net of the total expected costs for capital injections. Inspired by the study of El Karoui and Karatzas [Integration of the optimal risk in a stopping problem with absorption, in Séminaire de Probabilités XXIII, Springer, Berlin, 1989, pp. 405--420] on reflected follower problems, we relate the optimal dividend problem with capital injections to an optimal stopping problem for a drifted Brownian motion that is absorbed at the origin. We show that whenever the optimal stopping rule is triggered by a time-dependent boundary, the value function of the optimal stopping problem gives the derivative of the value function of the optimal dividend problem. Moreover, the optimal dividend strategy is also triggered by the moving boundary of the associated stopping problem. The properties of this boundary are then investigated in a case study in which instantaneous marginal profits and costs from dividends and capital injections are constants discounted at a constant rate.