Seventy years after Markowitz, portfolio optimization is still an open problem — not because the math is unsettled, but because estimation error eats the theoretical gains. The literature here spans classical mean-variance and its regularized descendants, risk parity and volatility targeting, Black-Litterman-style view blending, and newer machine-learning approaches to covariance estimation and end-to-end allocation.
The recurring finding worth internalizing: naive equal-weight portfolios are shockingly hard to beat out of sample, so a paper’s value usually lies in how honestly it handles estimation risk — shrinkage, robust optimization, turnover penalties — rather than in the elegance of its objective function. The ranking below favors papers that test allocations on real data with realistic constraints.
Related hubs: Factor Investing & Asset Pricing, Risk Management, Machine Learning for Forecasting.
This paper introduces a methodology leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for sector-level portfolio allocation through systematic analysis of macroeconomic conditions and market sentiment. Our framework emphasizes top-down sector allocation by processing multiple data streams simultaneously, incl
In this paper, we establish existence, uniqueness, and regularity properties of the solutions to multi-dimensional backward stochastic Volterra integral equations (BSVIEs), whose (possibly random) generator reflects nonlinear dependence on both the solution process and the martingale integrand compo
Financial markets are integral to a country’s economic success, yet their complex nature raises challenging issues for predicting their behaviors. There is a growing demand for an integrated system that explores the vast and diverse data in financial reports with powerful machine-learning models to
Portfolio selection problems that optimize expected utility are usually difficult to solve. If the number of assets in the portfolio is large, such expected utility maximization problems become even harder to solve numerically. Therefore, analytical expressions for optimal portfolios are always pref
In this work, we address the optimal retirement problem in the presence of a stochastic wage, formulated as a free boundary problem. Specifically, we explore an incomplete market setting where the wage cannot be perfectly hedged through investments in the risk-free and risky assets that characterize
Algorithmic trading or Financial robots have been conquering the stock markets with their ability to fathom complex statistical trading strategies. But with the recent development of deep learning technologies, these strategies are becoming impotent. The DQN and A2C models have previously outperform
This paper investigates the consumption and investment decisions of an individual facing uncertain lifespan and stochastic labor income within a Black-Scholes market framework. A key aspect of our study involves the agent’s option to choose when to acquire life insurance for bequest purposes. We exa
This paper is concerned with zero-sum stochastic linear-quadratic differential games in a regime switching model. The coefficients of the games depend on the underlying noises, so it is a non-Markovian regime switching model. Based on the solutions of a new kind of multidimensional indefinite stocha
In this article, we consider the problem of a bank’s loan portfolio in the context of liquidity risk, while allowing for the limited liability protection enjoyed by the bank. Accordingly, we construct a novel loan portfolio model with limited liability, while maintaining a threshold level of haircut
We study entropy-regularized mean-variance portfolio optimization under Bayesian drift uncertainty. Gaussian policies remain optimal under partial information, the value function is quadratic in wealth, and belief-dependent coefficients admit closed-form solutions. The mean control is identical to d
We generalize classical results on the existence of optimal portfolios in discrete time frictionless market models to models with capital gains taxes. We consider the realistic but mathematically challenging rule that losses do not trigger negative taxes but can only be offset against potential gain
This paper studies a continuous-time portfolio selection problem under a general distribution of random risk aversion (RRA). We provide a complete characterization of all deterministic equilibrium strategies in closed form. Our results show that the structure of the solution depends crucially on the
This paper studies the time-inconsistent MV optimal stopping problem via a game-theoretic approach to find equilibrium strategies. To overcome the mathematical intractability of direct equilibrium analysis, we propose a vanishing regularization method: first, we introduce an entropy-based regulariza
This paper considers two investors who perform mean-variance portfolio selection with asymmetric information: one knows the true stock dynamics, while the other has to infer the true dynamics from observed stock evolution. Their portfolio selection is interconnected through relative performance conc
This paper studies an optimal dividend problem for a company that aims to maximize the mean-variance (MV) objective of the accumulated discounted dividend payments up to its ruin time. The MV objective involves an integral form over a random horizon that depends endogenously on the company’s dividen
We propose a quantum unstructured search algorithm to find the extrema or roots of discrete functions, $f(\mathbf{x})$, such as the objective functions in combinatorial and other discrete optimisation problems. The first step of the Quantum Search for Extrema and Roots Algorithm (QSERA) is to transl
In an arbitrage-free simple market, we demonstrate that for a class of state-dependent exponential utilities, there exists a unique prediction of the random risk aversion that ensures the consistency of optimal strategies across any time horizon. Our solution aligns with the theory of forward perfor
We consider Merton’s problem with proportional transaction costs. It is well known that the optimal investment strategy is characterized by two trading boundaries, the buy boundary and the sell boundary, between which lies the no-trading region. We investigate how these two trading boundaries vary w
This paper discusses a nonlinear integral equation arising from portfolio selection with a class of time-inconsistent preferences. We propose a unified framework requiring minimal assumptions, such as right-continuity of market coefficients and square-integrability of the market price of risk. Our m
We present a non-probabilistic, path-by-path framework for studying path-dependent (i.e., where weight is a functional of time and historical time-series), long-only portfolio allocation in continuous-time based on [Chiu & Cont ‘23], where the fundamental concept of self-financing was introduced, in
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