IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijtafx/v20y2017i07ns0219024917500443.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Irreversible Investments And Ambiguity Aversion

Author

Listed:
  • ÁLVARO CARTEA

    (Department of Mathematics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK*Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance, Oxford, UK)

  • SEBASTIAN JAIMUNGAL

    (#x2020;Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)

Abstract

Real option valuation has traditionally been concerned with investment under project value uncertainty while assuming that the agent has perfect confidence in a specific model. However, agents do not generally have perfect confidence in their model and this ambiguity may affect their decisions. In addition, the value of real investments is not typically fully spanned by tradable assets because markets are incomplete as is typically the case in energy and commodities. In this paper, we account for the agent’s aversion to model ambiguity and address market incompleteness through the notion of robust indifference prices. We derive analytical results for the perpetual option to invest and the linear complementarity problem that the finite-time version of this problem satisfies. Ambiguity aversion has a number of effects on decision making some of which cannot be explained by altering the agent’s risk aversion. For example, ambiguity averse agents are found to exercise real options both earlier and later than their ambiguity neutral counterparts, depending on whether ambiguity stems from uncertainty in the dynamics of the project value or the dynamics of a hedging asset.

Suggested Citation

  • Álvaro Cartea & Sebastian Jaimungal, 2017. "Irreversible Investments And Ambiguity Aversion," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-26, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijtafx:v:20:y:2017:i:07:n:s0219024917500443
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219024917500443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219024917500443
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0219024917500443?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raman Uppal & Tan Wang, 2003. "Model Misspecification and Underdiversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2465-2486, December.
    2. M. R. Grasselli, 2011. "Getting Real with Real Options: A Utility–Based Approach for Finite–Time Investment in Incomplete Markets," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5-6), pages 740-764, June.
    3. Nishimura, Kiyohiko G. & Ozaki, Hiroyuki, 2007. "Irreversible investment and Knightian uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 668-694, September.
    4. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    5. Pascal J. Maenhout, 2004. "Robust Portfolio Rules and Asset Pricing," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 951-983.
    6. Miao, Jianjun & Wang, Neng, 2011. "Risk, uncertainty, and option exercise," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 442-461, April.
    7. Lars Peter Hansen & Thomas J Sargent, 2014. "A Quartet of Semigroups for Model Specification, Robustness, Prices of Risk, and Model Detection," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: UNCERTAINTY WITHIN ECONOMIC MODELS, chapter 4, pages 83-143, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    9. Miao, Jianjun & Wang, Neng, 2007. "Investment, consumption, and hedging under incomplete markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 608-642, December.
    10. Dahlgren, Eric & Leung, Tim, 2015. "An optimal multiple stopping approach to infrastructure investment decisions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 251-267.
    11. Cartea, Álvaro & González-Pedraz, Carlos, 2012. "How much should we pay for interconnecting electricity markets? A real options approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 14-30.
    12. Hugonnier, Julien & Morellec, Erwan, 2007. "Corporate control and real investment in incomplete markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1781-1800, May.
    13. David Roubaud & André Lapied & Robert Kast, 2010. "Real Options under Choquet-Brownian Ambiguitys," Working Papers 10-20, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised 2010.
    14. Duffie, Darrell & Epstein, Larry G, 1992. "Stochastic Differential Utility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 353-394, March.
    15. M. Trojanowska & P. M. Kort, 2010. "The Worst Case for Real Options," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 709-734, September.
    16. Duffie, Darrell & Epstein, Larry G, 1992. "Asset Pricing with Stochastic Differential Utility," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(3), pages 411-436.
    17. Richard Rouge & Nicole El Karoui, 2000. "Pricing Via Utility Maximization and Entropy," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 259-276, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali Al-Aradi & Alvaro Cartea & Sebastian Jaimungal, 2018. "Technical Uncertainty in Real Options with Learning," Papers 1803.05831, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2018.
    2. Alvaro Cartea & Ryan Donnelly & Sebastian Jaimungal, 2019. "Hedging Non-Tradable Risks with Transaction Costs and Price Impact," Papers 1908.00054, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2020.
    3. Cartea, Álvaro & Jaimungal, Sebastian & Qin, Zhen, 2019. "Speculative trading of electricity contracts in interconnected locations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 3-20.
    4. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2021. "The uncertainty-investment relationship with endogenous capacity," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Álvaro Cartea & Ryan Donnelly & Sebastian Jaimungal, 2020. "Hedging nontradable risks with transaction costs and price impact," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 833-868, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Flor, Christian Riis & Hesel, Søren, 2015. "Uncertain dynamics, correlation effects, and robust investment decisions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 278-298.
    2. Shuang Li & Haijun Wang, 2023. "Robust irreversible investment strategy with ambiguity to jump and diffusion risk," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 645-665, September.
    3. David Roubaud, 2022. "A real option to divest with two correlated sources of ambiguity," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 591-602.
    4. So, Leh-chyan, 2013. "Are Real Options “Real”? Isolating Uncertainty from Risk in Real Options Analysis," MPRA Paper 52493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Massimo Guidolin & Francesca Rinaldi, 2013. "Ambiguity in asset pricing and portfolio choice: a review of the literature," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 74(2), pages 183-217, February.
    6. Yu‐Jui Huang & Xiang Yu, 2021. "Optimal stopping under model ambiguity: A time‐consistent equilibrium approach," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 979-1012, July.
    7. Isaac Kleshchelski & Nicolas Vincent, 2007. "Robust Equilibrium Yield Curves," Cahiers de recherche 08-02, HEC Montréal, Institut d'économie appliquée.
    8. Miao, Jianjun & Wang, Neng, 2011. "Risk, uncertainty, and option exercise," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 442-461, April.
    9. Alexander, Carol & Chen, Xi & Ward, Charles, 2021. "Risk-adjusted valuation for real option decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 1046-1064.
    10. Paul Glasserman & Xingbo Xu, 2013. "Robust Portfolio Control with Stochastic Factor Dynamics," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 874-893, August.
    11. M. Trojanowska & P. M. Kort, 2010. "The Worst Case for Real Options," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 709-734, September.
    12. Thijssen, Jacco J.J., 2011. "Incomplete markets, ambiguity, and irreversible investment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 909-921, June.
    13. Dejian Tian & Weidong Tian, 2016. "Comparative statics under κ-ambiguity for log-Brownian asset prices," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 12(4), pages 361-378, December.
    14. Gao, Yongling & Driouchi, Tarik & Bennett, David J., 2018. "Ambiguity aversion in buyer-seller relationships: A contingent-claims and social network explanation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 50-67.
    15. Maenhout, Pascal J., 2006. "Robust portfolio rules and detection-error probabilities for a mean-reverting risk premium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 136-163, May.
    16. Fouilloux, Jessica & Moraux, Franck & Viviani, Jean-Laurent, 2015. "Investing in finite-life carbon emissions reduction program under risk and idiosyncratic uncertainty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 310-320.
    17. Aït-Sahalia, Yacine & Matthys, Felix, 2019. "Robust consumption and portfolio policies when asset prices can jump," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1-56.
    18. Bolton, Patrick & Wang, Neng & Yang, Jinqiang, 2019. "Investment under uncertainty with financial constraints," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Delaney, Laura, 2021. "A model of investment under uncertainty with time to build, market incompleteness and risk aversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1155-1167.
    20. Carol Alexander & Xi Chen, 2021. "Model risk in real option valuation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 299(1), pages 1025-1056, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ijtafx:v:20:y:2017:i:07:n:s0219024917500443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijtaf/ijtaf.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.