Paper 4, Section II, J

Stochastic Financial Models | Part II, 2011

In a two-period model, two agents enter a negotiation at time 0 . Agent jj knows that he will receive a random payment XjX_{j} at time 1(j=1,2)1(j=1,2), where the joint distribution of (X1,X2)\left(X_{1}, X_{2}\right) is known to both agents, and X1+X2>0X_{1}+X_{2}>0. At the outcome of the negotiation, there will be an agreed risk transfer random variable YY which agent 1 will pay to agent 2 at time 1 . The objective of agent 1 is to maximize EU1(X1Y)E U_{1}\left(X_{1}-Y\right), and the objective of agent 2 is to maximize EU2(X2+Y)E U_{2}\left(X_{2}+Y\right), where the functions UjU_{j} are strictly increasing, strictly concave, C2C^{2}, and have the properties that

limx0Uj(x)=+,limxUj(x)=0\lim _{x \downarrow 0} U_{j}^{\prime}(x)=+\infty, \quad \lim _{x \uparrow \infty} U_{j}^{\prime}(x)=0

Show that, unless there exists some λ(0,)\lambda \in(0, \infty) such that

U1(X1Y)U2(X2+Y)=λ almost surely \frac{U_{1}^{\prime}\left(X_{1}-Y\right)}{U_{2}^{\prime}\left(X_{2}+Y\right)}=\lambda \quad \text { almost surely }

the risk transfer YY could be altered to the benefit of both agents, and so would not be the conclusion of the negotiation.

Show that, for given λ>0\lambda>0, the relation ()(*) determines a unique risk transfer Y=YλY=Y_{\lambda}, and that X2+YλX_{2}+Y_{\lambda} is a function of X1+X2X_{1}+X_{2}.

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