Equilibrium investment with random risk aversion

Math Financ. 2023 Jul;33(3):946-975. doi: 10.1111/mafi.12394. Epub 2023 May 3.

Abstract

We solve the problem of an investor who maximizes utility but faces random preferences. We propose a problem formulation based on expected certainty equivalents. We tackle the time-consistency issues arising from that formulation by applying the equilibrium theory approach. To this end, we provide the proper definitions and prove a rigorous verification theorem. We complete the calculations for the cases of power and exponential utility. For power utility, we illustrate in a numerical example that the equilibrium stock proportion is independent of wealth, but decreasing in time, which we also supplement by a theoretical discussion. For exponential utility, the usual constant absolute risk aversion is replaced by its expectation.

Keywords: certainty equivalents; equilibrium approach; power and exponential utility; random risk aversion; time‐inconsistency.