Stochastic Control in Discrete and Continuous Time

by Atle Seierstad

This book contains an introduction to three topics in stochastic discrete time stochastic control, i. e. , stochastic dynamic programming (Chapter 1), piecewise - terministic control problems (Chapter 3), and control of Ito diffusions (Chapter 4). The chapters include treatments of optimal stopping problems. An Appendix - calls material from elementary probability theory and gives heuristic explanations of certain more advanced tools in probability theory. The book will hopefully be of interest to students in several ? economics, engineering, operations research, ?nance, business, mathematics. In economics and business administration, graduate students should readily be able to read it, and the mathematical level can be suitable for advanced undergraduates in mathem- ics and science. The prerequisites for reading the book are only a calculus course and a course in elementary probability. (Certain technical comments may demand a slightly better background. ) As this book perhaps (and hopefully) will be read by readers with widely diff- ing backgrounds, some general advice may be Don’t be put off if paragraphs, comments, or remarks contain material of a seemingly more technical nature that you don’t understand. Just skip such material and continue reading, it will surely not be needed in order to understand the main ideas and results. The presentation avoids the use of measure theory.

232 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2008

About the author

Knut Sydsæter, Atle Seierstad, and Arne Strøm all have extensive experience in teaching mathematics for economists in the Department of Economics at the University of Oslo. With Peter Berck at Berkeley, Knut Sydsæter and Arne Strøm have written a widely used formula book, Economists’ Mathematical Manual (Springer, 2005). The 1987 North-Holland book Optimal Control Theory for Economists by Atle Seierstad and Knut Sydsæter is still a standard reference in the field.

Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/sydsaeter to access the supplementary resources for this text including a new Student’s Manual with extended answers broken down step by step to selected problems in the text.