Conditional Moments and Horizon Risk in a Mean-Reverting Growth Model
Summary
The document studies a two factor stochastic growth model in which the growth component follows a mean reverting diffusion and the level also has direct Brownian noise correlated with that diffusion. The answers derive the conditional expected change in the level over a future horizon from the decay of the current growth state. They then expand the squared change into the integrated growth component, direct noise, and their covariance, using an integrating factor, Gaussian properties, and Itô isometry.
The derivations aim to show how horizon affects risk: the current growth state contributes to the conditional mean, while the long horizon variance rate approaches the direct diffusion contribution as the mean reverting component settles. The document includes competing derivations, and some displayed covariance and limiting expressions are inconsistent, so its algebra should be checked before reuse. It is a theoretical calculation, not an empirical model or trading strategy, and assumes constant parameters and Brownian shocks.
Key ideas
- The growth factor follows an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process and its conditional expectation decays exponentially.
- The expected level change is the time integral of expected future growth.
- The second moment combines growth uncertainty, direct diffusion, and correlation between their shocks.
- The mean reverting contribution changes with the forecast horizon, while the direct diffusion remains persistent.
- The supplied answers contain inconsistent covariance calculations that require verification.
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# Stochastic growth model
# Stochastic growth model
In this problem we consider a model of stochastic growth. In particular, consider the following system of SDEs:
\begin{align} dX_t &= Y_t dt + \sigma_XdZ_{1t}\\ dY_t &= -\lambda Y_t dt + \sigma_Y \rho dZ_{1t} + \sigma_Y\sqrt{1-\rho^2}dZ_{2t}\\ X_0 &= 0\\ Y_0 &= 0 \end{align}
where $Z_{1t}$ and $Z_{2t}$ are independent Brownian motions. \
Compute $E_t[(X_{t+T}-X_t)]$ and $E_t[(X_{t+T} - X_t)^2]$ as a functions of $T$ and $Y_t$. To illustrate the difference between short-run and long-run risk, compute: $\lim_{T \to 0}\frac{E_t[(X_{t+T} - X_t)^2]}{T}$ and $\lim_{T \to \infty}\frac{E_t[(X_{t+T} - X_t)^2]}{T}$ \
## Answer by StackG (score 6)
https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/58732
- The sum of two independent brownian motions is also a brownian motion (which is formally proved here)
- First of all we solve for $Y_t$. We notice that $d\bigl( Y e^{\lambda t} \bigr) = dY e^{\lambda t} + \lambda Y e^{\lambda t}$.
\begin{align} dY_t &= -\lambda Y_t dt + \sigma_Y \rho dZ_{1t} + \sigma_Y \sqrt{1 - \rho^2} dZ_{2t} \\ &= -\lambda Y_t dt + \sigma_Y dW_t \\ dY_t + \lambda Y dt &= \sigma_Y dW_t \\ d\bigl( Y_t e^{\lambda t} \bigr) &= e^{\lambda t} \sigma_Y dW_t \\ \Bigl[ Y_t e^{\lambda t} \Bigr]^T_0 &= \sigma_Y \int^T_0 e^{\lambda t} dW_t \\ Y_T &= \sigma_Y e^{-\lambda T}\int^T_0 e^{\lambda t} dW_t \\ \end{align}
Where I've defined $W_t = \rho Z_{1t} + \sqrt{1 - \rho^2} Z_{2t}$. This is gaussian distributed with an expectation of 0 and a variance ${\frac {\sigma^2_Y} {2 \lambda}} \bigl( 1 - e^{-2\lambda T} \bigr)$ coming from the Ito isometry
Now plugging this in and solving for $X_t$:
\begin{align} dX_t &= Y_t dt + \sigma_X dZ_{1t} \\ &= \bigl( \sigma_Y e^{-\lambda t}\int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s \bigr) dt + \sigma_X dZ_{1t} \\ \Bigl[ X_t \Bigr]^T_0 &= \sigma_Y \int^T_0 e^{-\lambda t} \bigl( \int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s \bigr) dt + \sigma_X Z_{1t} \end{align}
We can solve $\int^T_0 e^{-\lambda t} \bigl( \int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s \bigr) dt$ using stochastic integration by parts, as done here, using $A = \int^t_0 e^{-\lambda s} ds$ and $B = \int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s$ gives
\begin{align} \Bigl[ A_t \cdot B_t \Bigr]^T_0 &= \int^T_0 e^{-\lambda t} \bigl( \int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s \bigr) dt + \int^T_0 \bigr( \int^t_0 e^{-\lambda s} ds \bigr) e^{\lambda t} dW_t \\ \int^T_0 e^{-\lambda t} \bigl( \int^t_0 e^{\lambda s} dW_s \bigr) dt &= -\int^T_0 \bigr( \int^t_0 e^{-\lambda s} ds \bigr) e^{\lambda t} dW_t + \bigl( \int^T_0 e^{-\lambda s} ds \bigr) \cdot \bigl( \int^T_0 e^{\lambda t} dW_t \bigr) \\ &= -{\frac {1} \lambda}\int^T_0 (e^{\lambda t} - 1) dW_t + {\frac {1} \lambda} (1 - e^{-\lambda T}) \int^T_0 e^{\lambda t} dW_t \\ &= -{\frac {1} \lambda}\int^T_0 (e^{\lambda t} - 1) - e^{\lambda t}(1 - e^{-\lambda T}) dW_t\\ &= {\frac {1} \lambda}\int^T_0 \bigl(1 - e^{-\lambda (T-t)} \bigr) dW_t \end{align}
And substituting this in above, we have \begin{align} X_T &= {\frac {\sigma_Y} \lambda}\int^T_0 \bigl(1 - e^{-\lambda (T-t)} \bigr) dW_t + \sigma_X Z_{1T} \end{align}
This is the sum of two (correlated) gaussians, so it is also a gaussian as required
- From above, we have
\begin{align} \Bigl[ Y_s e^{\lambda s} \Bigr]^{T+t}_t &= \sigma_Y \int^{T+t}_t e^{\lambda s} dW_s \\ Y_{T+t} &= e^{-\lambda T} Y_t + e^{-\lambda (T+t)} \sigma_Y \int^{T+t}_t e^{\lambda s} dW_s \end{align}
Conditioning on $Y_t$, we can now find $X_{T+t}$ as above
\begin{align} {\mathbb E}\bigl[(X_{T+t} - X_t \bigr)] &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int_t^{T+t} dX_s \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds + \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X dZ_{1s} \bigr]\\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds\bigr]\\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\int^{T}_0 Y_{u+t} du\bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\int^{T}_0 \Bigl( e^{-\lambda u} Y_t + e^{-\lambda (u+t)} \sigma_Y \int^{u+t}_t e^{\lambda s} dW_s \Bigr) du \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\int^{T}_0 e^{-\lambda u} Y_t du \bigr]\\ &= {\frac 1 {\lambda}} Y_t \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr) \end{align}
(where I've changed variables from $s$ to $u = s - t$) which makes sense - $Y_t$ is mean-reverting so we expect future values to be closer to zero than current values
\begin{align} {\mathbb E}\bigl[(X_{T+t} - X_t \bigr)^2] &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \bigl( \int_t^{T+t} dX_s \bigr)^2 \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\Bigl(\int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds + \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X dZ_{s1} \Bigr)^2 \bigr]\\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[\bigl( \int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds \bigr)^2 + \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X^2 dt + 2 \int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X dZ_{1s} \bigr]\\ &= {\frac {Y_t^2} {\lambda^2}} \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr)^2 + \sigma_X^2 T + 2 {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X dZ_{1s} \bigr] \end{align}
For clarity I break out the last term separately: \begin{align} {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^{T+t}_t Y_s ds \int^{T+t}_t \sigma_X dZ_{1s} \bigr] &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^T_0 Y_{u+t} du \int^T_0 \sigma_X dZ_{u1} \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^T_0 \Bigl( e^{-\lambda u} Y_t + e^{-\lambda (u+t)} \sigma_Y \int^{u+t}_t e^{\lambda s} dW_s \Bigr) du \int^T_0 \sigma_X dZ_{1u} \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^T_0 \Bigl( e^{-\lambda (u+t)} \sigma_Y \int^{u+t}_t e^{\lambda s} dW_s \Bigr) du \int^T_0 \sigma_X dZ_{1u} \bigr] \\ &= {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^T_0 \Bigl( e^{-\lambda (u+t)} \sigma_Y \int^{u+t}_t e^{\lambda s} \rho dZ_{1u} \Bigr) du \int^T_0 \sigma_X dZ_{1u} \bigr] \\ &= {\frac {\rho \sigma_Y} {\lambda}} {\mathbb E}\bigl[ \int^T_0 \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr) dZ_{1u} \int^T_0 \sigma_X dZ_{1u} \bigr] \\ &= {\frac {\rho \sigma_X \sigma_Y} {\lambda}} \int^T_0 \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr) du\\ &= {\frac {T \rho \sigma_X \sigma_Y} {\lambda}}\bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr) \end{align}
and plugging this back in to the block above we have \begin{align} {\mathbb E}\bigl[(X_{T+t} - X_t \bigr)^2] &= {\frac {Y_t^2} {\lambda^2}} \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr)^2 + \sigma_X^2 T + 2 {\frac {T \rho \sigma_X \sigma_Y} {\lambda}} \bigl( 1 - e^{-\lambda T} \bigr) \end{align}
Thinking about the behaviour of this process as $T \to \infty$, we see that the $( 1 - e^{-\lambda T})$ terms go to zero and we're left with a variance of $\sigma_X^2 T$, which is just standard geometric brownian motion's variance.
As $T \to 0$, $( 1 - e^{-\lambda T}) \to \lambda T$ which cancel out all of the $\lambda$s so the expression becomes \begin{align} {\frac 1 T} \lim_{T \to 0} {\mathbb E}\bigl[(X_{T+t} - X_t \bigr)^2] &= Y_t^2 T + \sigma_X^2 - 2 \rho \sigma_X \sigma_Y T \end{align}
so as expected, short term variance at $t$ increases with the level of $Y_t$, and decreases if the processes are more positively correlated.
Wow what a question!
## Answer by Christopher K (score 2)
https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/59614
Great problem! First recall that
$$\begin{cases} dY_{t} = -\lambda Y_{t}\, dt + \sigma_{Y} \rho \, dZ_{t}^{(1)} + \sigma_{Y}\sqrt{1-\rho^{2}}\, dZ_{t}^{(2)} \\ Y_{0} = 0. \end{cases}$$ Use It^o calculus to show that $d(e^{\lambda t}Y_{t}) = \sigma_{Y}e^{\lambda t} dW_{t},$ where $W_{t} = \rho \, dZ_{t}^{(1)} + \sqrt{1-\rho^{2}}\, dZ_{t}^{(2)}$ is standard Brownian motion (keep in mind that $d[W_{t},Z_{t}^{(1)}] =\rho\, dt$), and derive $$Y_{t} = \sigma_{Y}e^{-\lambda t} \int_{0}^{t} e^{\lambda s}\, dW_{s}$$ as well as $$X_{t} = \int_{0}^{t} Y_{s}\, ds + \sigma_{X}Z_{t}^{(1)}.$$ We will first compute $\mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}]$ and $\mathbb{E}_{t}[X_{t+T}-X_{t}]$. Since $e^{\lambda t}Y_{t}$ is a martingale, $$\mathbb{E}_{t}[e^{\lambda s}Y_{s}] = e^{\lambda t}Y_{t} \implies \mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}] = Y_{t}e^{\lambda (t-s)},$$ and so \begin{align*} \mathbb{E}_{t}[X_{t+T}-X_{t}] &= \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [\int_{t}^{t+T} Y_{s}\, ds + \sigma_{X}(Z_{t+T}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)}) \right ] \\ &= \int_{t}^{t+T} \mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}]\, ds \\ &= \int_{t}^{t+T} e^{\lambda(t-s)}Y_{t}\, ds \\ &= \frac{1}{\lambda}Y_{t}(1-e^{-\lambda T}). \end{align*} Now we use It^o isometry to compute $\mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}Y_{r}]$: \begin{align*} \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [e^{\lambda (s+r)}Y_{s}Y_{r} \right ] &= \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [\left (e^{\lambda t}Y_{t} + \sigma_{Y} \int_{t}^{s} e^{\lambda u}\, dW_{u} \right )\cdot \left (e^{\lambda t}Y_{t} + \sigma_{Y} \int_{t}^{r} e^{\lambda v}\, dW_{v} \right ) \right ] \\ &= e^{2\lambda t}Y_{t}^{2} + \sigma_{Y}^{2} \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [\left (\int_{t}^{\min\{s,r\}} e^{\lambda u}\, dW_{u} \right )^{2} \right ] \\ &= e^{2\lambda t}Y_{t}^{2} + \sigma_{Y}^{2} \int_{t}^{\min\{s,r\}} e^{2\lambda u}\, du \\ &= e^{2\lambda t} \left (Y_{t}^{2} + \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda}(e^{2\lambda (\min\{s,r\}-t)}-1) \right ) \end{align*} and so $$\mathbb{E}_{t} [Y_{s}Y_{r}] = e^{-\lambda (s+r-2t)}Y_{t}^{2} + \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda}(e^{-\lambda|s-r|}-e^{-\lambda (s+r-2t)})$$ as well as $$\mathrm{cov}(Y_{s},Y_{r}) = \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda}(e^{-\lambda |s-r|}-e^{-\lambda (s+r-2t)}).$$ Next, calculate for $s \leq r$ \begin{align*} \mathbb{E}_{t} [e^{\lambda s}Y_{s}(Z_{r}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)})] &= \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [e^{\lambda t}Y_{t}(Z_{r}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)}) + \sigma_{Y} \int_{t}^{s} e^{\lambda u}\, dW_{u} \cdot \int_{t}^{r} dZ_{v}^{(1)} \right ] \\ &= \sigma_{Y} \rho \int_{t}^{s} e^{\lambda u} \, du \\ &= \frac{\sigma_{Y}\rho}{\lambda}(e^{\lambda s}-e^{\lambda t}) \end{align*} and $$\mathbb{E}_{t} [Y_{s}(Z_{r}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)})] = \frac{\sigma_{Y}\rho}{\lambda}(1-e^{-\lambda (s-t)}).$$ Finally, \begin{align*} &\mathbb{E}_{t}[(X_{t+T}-X_{t})^{2}] \\ &\quad = \mathbb{E}_{t} \left [\left (\int_{t}^{t+T} Y_{s}\, ds \right )^{2} -2\sigma_{X}(Z_{t+T}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)})\left (\int_{t}^{t+T} Y_{s}\, ds \right ) + \sigma_{X}^{2}(Z_{t+T}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)})^{2} \right ] \\ &\quad = \int_{t}^{t+T}\int_{t}^{t+T} \mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}Y_{r}]\, ds\, dr - 2\sigma_{X}\int_{t}^{t+T} \mathbb{E}_{t}[Y_{s}(Z_{t+T}^{(1)}-Z_{t}^{(1)})]\, ds + \sigma_{X}^{2}T \\ &\quad = \int_{t}^{t+T}\int_{t}^{t+T} e^{-\lambda (s+r-2t)}Y_{t}^{2} + \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda}(e^{-\lambda|s-r|}-e^{-\lambda (s+r-2t)})\, ds\, dr \\ &\qquad - \frac{2\sigma_{X}\sigma_{Y}\rho}{\lambda} \int_{t}^{t+T} (1-e^{-\lambda (s-t)})\, ds + \sigma_{X}^{2}T \\ &\quad = \frac{1}{\lambda^{2}}Y_{t}^{2}(1-e^{-\lambda T})^{2} + \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda}\cdot \frac{2(\lambda T + e^{-\lambda T}-1)}{\lambda^{2}} - \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}}{2\lambda^{3}}(1-e^{-\lambda T})^{2}\\ &\qquad - \frac{2\sigma_{X}\sigma_{Y}\rho}{\lambda} \left (T - \frac{1}{\lambda}(1-e^{-\lambda T}) \right ) + \sigma_{X}^{2}T. \end{align*} At last, we use asymptotics $\frac{1}{\kappa}(1-e^{-\kappa T}) \sim T - \frac{\kappa}{2}T^{2}$ as $T \rightarrow 0$ to get \begin{align*} & \frac{1}{T} \mathbb{E}_{t}[(X_{t+T}-X_{t})^{2}] \\ &\quad = \frac{1}{T} \left (Y_{t}^{2}T^{2} + \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}T^{2}}{2\lambda } - \frac{\sigma_{Y}^{2}T^{2}}{2\lambda } - \frac{2\sigma_{X}\sigma_{Y}\rho}{\lambda} \cdot \frac{\lambda T^{2}}{2} + \sigma_{X}^{2}T \right ) + \mathcal{O}(T^{2}) \\ &\quad = Y_{t}^{2}T + \sigma_{X}^{2} - \sigma_{X}\sigma_{Y}\rho T + \mathcal{O}(T^{2}). \end{align*}Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.