Malliavin Calculus Method for Asymptotic Expansion of Dual Control Problems

Abstract

We develop a technique based on Malliavin--Bismut calculus ideas, for asymptotic expansion of dual control problems arising in connection with exponential indifference valuation of claims, and with minimization of relative entropy, in incomplete markets. The problems involve optimization of a functional of Brownian paths on Wiener space, with the paths perturbed by a drift involving the control. In addition there is a penalty term in which the control features quadratically. The drift perturbation is interpreted as a measure change using the Girsanov theorem, leading to a form of the integration-by-parts formula in which a directional derivative on Wiener space is computed. This allows for asymptotic analysis of the control problem. Applications to incomplete Ito process markets are given, in which indifference prices are approximated in the low risk aversion limit. We also give an application to identifying the minimal entropy martingale measure as a perturbation to the minimal martingale measure in stoc...