Financial Partial Differential Equations : Black-Scholes and Ito's Lemma

Please see the attached file for the fully formatted problems.

If  and we let  , then  , where   and  . Define  . Suppose that the stock pays dividends continuously:

• D(S,t) => dividend
• If dividend is paid continuosly:
* D(S,t)dt = D0Sdt
* D0 is a constant dividend rate

Derive the equation for  directly by using Itô's lemma.
(Hint: Take   as the portfolio during the derivation)



Notes: Derivation of B-S Equation:

     V denotes the value of an option that depends on the value of the underlying asset S and time t, ie, V = V(S,t). In a time step dt, the underlying asset pays out a dividend SD0dt, where D0 is a constant known as the dividend yield. S satisfies   According to Itô's lemma, the random walk followed by V is given by:

.   *

V has at least one t derivative and two S derivatives. Construct a portfolio consisting of one option and a number -Δ of the underlying asset. This number is not yet known. The value of this portfolio is:
.   **

Because the portfolio contains one option and a number -Δ of the underlying asset, and the owner of the portfolio receives SD0dt for every asset held, the earnings for the owner of the portfolio during the time step dt is:

.

Using *, it is apparent that Π follows the random walk:



The random component in this random walk can be eliminated by choosing:

.   ***

This results in a portfolio whose increment is wholly deterministic:

.

Because the return for any risk-free portfolio should be r,

  .   ****

Substituting ** and *** into **** and dividing by dt:

.

This is the Black-Scholes partial differential equation. The key idea of deriving this equation is to eliminate the uncertainty or the risk. dΠ is not a differential in the usual sense. It is the earning of the holder of the portfolio during the time step dt. Therefore,   appears. In the derivation, in order to eliminate any small risk, Δ is chosen before an uncertainty appears and does not depend on the coming risk. Therefore, no differential of Δ is needed.

Attached file(s):

pde 22-12p.doc  View File