Title
On Finding Equilibrium Stopping Times for Time-Inconsistent Markovian Problems
Abstract
Standard Markovian optimal stopping problems are consistent in the sense that the first entrance time into the stopping set is optimal for each initial state of the process. Clearly, the usual concept of optimality cannot in a straightforward way be applied to nonstandard stopping problems without this time-consistent structure. This paper is devoted to the solution of time-inconsistent stopping problems with the reward depending on the initial state using an adaptation of Strotz's consistent planning. More precisely, we give a precise equilibrium definition-of the type subgame perfect Nash equilibrium based on pure Markov strategies. In general, such equilibria do not always exist and if they exist they are in general not unique. We, however, develop an iterative approach to finding equilibrium stopping times for a general class of problems and apply this approach to one-sided stopping problems on the real line. We furthermore prove a verification theorem based on a set of variational inequalities which also allows us to find equilibria. In the case of a standard optimal stopping problem, we investigate the connection between the notion of an optimal and an equilibrium stopping time. As an application of the developed theory we study a selling strategy problem under exponential utility and endogenous habit formation.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1137/17M1153029
SIAM JOURNAL ON CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION
Keywords
Field
DocType
Markov process,optimal stopping,subgame perfect Nash equilibrium,Strotz's consistent planning,time-inconsistency,variational inequalities
Mathematical economics,Optional stopping theorem,Mathematical optimization,Odds algorithm,Markov process,Optimal stopping,Subgame perfect equilibrium,Stopping time,Mathematics,Dynamic inconsistency,Variational inequality
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
56
6
0363-0129
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
6
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sören Christensen132.49
Kristoffer Lindensjö201.01