LQ control and mean-variance portfolio selec-tions: The stochastic parameter case

Abstract

This paper concerns the continuous-time, mean-variance portfolio selection problem with random interest rate, appreciation rates and volatility coefficients. The problem is tackled using the results of indefinite stochastic linear-quadratic (LQ) optimal control and backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs), two theories that have been extensively studied and developed in recent years. Specifically, the mean-variance problem is formulated as a linearly constrained stochastic LQ control problem. Solvability of this LQ problem is reduced, in turn, to proving global solvability of a stochastic Ric-cati equation. The proof of existence and uniqueness of this Riccati equation, which is a fully nonlinear and singular BSDE with random coefficients, is interesting in its own right and relies heavily on the structural properties of the equation. The optimal investment strategy as well as the mean-variance efficient frontier are then analytically derived in terms of the solution of this equation. In particular, it is demonstrated that the efficient frontier in the mean-standard deviation diagram is still a straight line or, equivalently, risk-free investment is still possible, even when the interest rate is random.