Consistent pricing and hedging for a modified constant elasticity of variance model

Abstract

This paper considers a modification of the well known constant elasticity of variance model where it is used to model the growth optimal portfolio (GOP). It is shown that, for this application, there is no equivalent risk neutral pricing measure and therefore the classical risk neutral pricing methodology fails. However, a consistent pricing and hedging framework can be established by application of the benchmark approach.

Perfect hedging strategies can be constructed for European style contingent claims, where the underlying risky asset is the GOP. In this framework, fair prices for contingent claims are the minimal prices that permit perfect replication of the claims. Numerical examples show that these prices may differ significantly from the corresponding ‘risk neutral’ prices.