Long-run impulse control with generalised discounting

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effects of applying generalised (non-exponential) discounting on a long-run impulse control problem for a Feller-Markov process. We show that the optimal value of the discounted problem is the same as the optimal value of its undiscounted version. Next, we prove that an optimal strategy for the undiscounted discrete time functional is also optimal for the discrete-time discounted criterion and nearly optimal for the continuous-time discounted one. This shows that the discounted problem, being time-inconsistent in nature, admits a time-consistent solution. Also, instead of a complex time-dependent Bellman equation one may consider its simpler time-independent version.

Corrected version