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Pricing a Zero-Coupon Bond with a Poisson Jump Rate Model

Article Quant Q&A · Author: user89635

Summary

The document derives a zero-coupon bond price when the short rate starts at a fixed level and rises by a fixed increment at each jump of a Poisson process. The discount factor depends on the time integral of the jump count. By exchanging the order of integration, that accumulated count is expressed as a sum over jump times, with each jump weighted by the remaining time to maturity.

Conditioning on the total number of jumps makes the jump times independent and uniformly distributed over the bond horizon. The derivation then averages the exponential discount contribution for one uniform jump time and sums over the Poisson distribution of jump counts, yielding a closed form for the risk-neutral bond price. This result relies on the stated constant intensity and fixed positive jump size; it does not address calibration, more general rate dynamics, or empirical fit.

Key ideas

  • The integrated Poisson jump count can be rewritten as a sum of remaining-time weights for each jump.
  • Conditional on the number of Poisson jumps over a fixed interval, their times are independent uniform draws over that interval.
  • Averaging the contribution of a single jump and summing over the Poisson jump count gives the discount expectation.
  • The closed-form bond price assumes constant Poisson intensity and a fixed upward rate increment.

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Full text
# Bond price under Poissonian model of interest rate


# Bond price under Poissonian model of interest rate












Working through an exercise in interest rate modelling and I have the following setup: $r_t = r_0 + \delta N_t$ where $\delta > 0$ and $\lambda > 0$ is the intensity of the Poisson pricess $N_t$. I want to calculate the bond price at time $0$, which is given by the formula $$ B(0,T) = \mathbb{E}_{\mathbb{P}^*}\left( e^{-\int_0^T r_u \,du}\right) = e^{-r_0T}\mathbb{E}_{\mathbb{P}^*}\left( e^{-\delta \int_0^T N_u\,du}\right). $$ where $\mathbb{P}^*$ is the risk-neutral probability measure. I haven't been dealing with Poisson processes lately and am not sure if there is a simple transformation or use of MGFs to get the second integral/expectation using properties of the Poisson process. I have tried to find some resources online but to no avail! Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

## Answer by Quantuple (score 4, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/27972

Let $$Y_t = \int_0^t N_u du$$

where $(N_t)_{t \geq 0}$ figures a Poisson process with intensity $\lambda$.

Using the stochastic Fubini theorem we have that: \begin{align} Y_T &= \int_0^T N_t dt \\ &= \int_0^T \int_0^t dN_u dt \\ &\color{lightgray}{= \int_0^T \int_0^T \mathbf{1}\{u \in [0,t]\} dN_u\ dt} \\ &\color{lightgray}{= \int_0^T \int_0^T \mathbf{1}\{u \in [0,t]\} dt\ dN_u} \\ &\color{lightgray}{= \int_0^T \int_0^T \mathbf{1}\{t \in [u,T]\} dt dN_u} \\ &= \int_0^T \int_u^T dt dN_u \\ &= \int_0^T (T-u) dN_u \\ &= \sum_{i=1}^{N_T} (T-T_i) \tag{0} \end{align} where $T_i$ figures the $i^{th}$ Poisson process jump time, which is Gamma distributed with integer parameter $i$ (also known as Erlang distribution see here Proposition 15.2 for instance). The jump times $T_i$ are therefore not unconditionally i.i.d. and $Y_t$ cannot be seen as a usual compound Poisson process.

But, conditioning helps! Indeed, conditionally on the number of jumps $N_T = n$ one can show that the $n$ jump times $\{T_i\}_{i=1}^n$ are actually independently and identically distributed uniformly over $[0,T]$ (see reference here top of page 443), that is \begin{align} T_i\ \vert\ N_T=n \ \ &\sim\ \ T U_i\\ \{U_i\}_{i=1}^n \ &\sim\ \ \mathcal{U}[0,1] \ \ \text{i.i.d.} \end{align}

We then have: \begin{align} \mathbb{E} \left[e^{-\delta Y_T} \vert \mathcal{F}_0 \right] &= \mathbb{E} \left[ \left. \exp\left(-\delta \sum_{i=1}^{N_T} (T-T_i)\right) \right\vert \mathcal{F}_0 \right] \tag{1} \\ &= \mathbb{E} \left[ \left. \mathbb{E} \left[ \left. \exp\left(-\delta \sum_{i=1}^{N_T} (T-T_i)\right) \right\vert \mathcal{F}_T \right] \right\vert \mathcal{F}_0 \right] \tag{2} \\ &= \mathbb{E} \left[ \left. \mathbb{E} \left[ \left. \exp\left(-\delta T \sum_{i=1}^{N_T} (1-U_i) \right) \right\vert \mathcal{F}_T \right] \right\vert \mathcal{F}_0 \right] \tag{3} \\ &= \sum_{n=0}^\infty \mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \sum_{i=1}^{n} \tilde{U}_i \right) \right] \mathbb{P}^*\left( N_T = n \right) \tag{4}\\ &= e^{-\lambda T} \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(\lambda T)^n}{n!} \mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \sum_{i=1}^{n} \tilde{U}_i \right) \right] \tag{5} \\ &= e^{-\lambda T} \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(\lambda T)^n}{n!} \prod_{i=1}^n \mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \tilde{U}_i \right) \right] \tag{6} \\ &= e^{-\lambda T} \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(\lambda T)^n}{n!} \left(\mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \tilde{U}_1 \right) \right]\right)^n \tag{7} \\ &= \exp(-\lambda T) \exp\left(\lambda T \mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \tilde{U}_1 \right) \right] \right) \tag{8} \\ &= \exp\left(\lambda T \left(\mathbb{E} \left[ \exp\left(-\delta T \tilde{U}_1 \right) \right] - 1 \right) \right) \tag{9} \end{align} where $\tilde{U}_i = 1-U_i$ are also $\mathcal{U}[0,1]$ i.i.d. by construction and we used:

- Def. of $Y_T \vert \mathcal{F}_0 = \int_0^T N_u du = \sum_{i=1}^{N_T} (T-T_i)$ see $(0)$

- Tower property of conditional expectation

- Conditionally on $N_T$ the Poisson jump times are i.i.d. $\mathcal{U}[0,T]$

- Expectation over $N_T \vert \mathcal{F}_0$

- Def. of Poisson Process $(N_t)_{t \geq 0}$

- Properties of $\exp(.)$ + $\{\tilde{U}_i\}_{i=1}^n$ independent

- $\{\tilde{U}_i\}_{i=1}^n$ identically distributed

- Series expansion of $\exp(.)$

- Properties of $\exp(.)$

Now all you need to do is compute $Z = \mathbb{E}[\exp\left(-\delta T U \right)]$ with $U \sim \mathcal{U}[0,1]$:

\begin{align} Z &= \mathbb{E}[\exp\left(-\delta T U \right)] \\ &= \int_{0}^1 \exp\left(-\delta T u \right) \underbrace{p^*(u)}_{\mathbf{1}\{u \in [0,1]\}} du \\ &= \left[ \frac{\exp\left(-\delta T u \right)}{-\delta T} \right]_0^1 \\ &= \frac{1 - e^{-\delta T}}{\delta T} \end{align}

You will then be able to write: $$ e^{-r_0T}\mathbb{E}^{\mathbb{P}^*}\left[ e^{-\delta \int_0^T N_u\,du} \vert \mathcal{F}_0 \right] = \exp\left(-r_0T + \lambda T\left(\frac{1 - e^{-\delta T}}{\delta T}-1\right)\right) $$

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This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.