Pitman's Theorem, Black-Scholes Equation, and Derivative Pricing for Fundraisers

Abstract

We propose a financial market model that comprises a savings account and a stock. The stock price process is modeled as a one-dimensional diffusion, in which two types of agents exist: an ordinary investor and a fundraiser who buys or sells stocks as funding activities. Although the investor information is the natural filtration of the diffusion, the fundraiser possesses additional information regarding the funding, as well as additional cash flows as a result of the funding. This concept is modeled using Pitman's theorem for the three-dimensional Bessel process. Two contributions are presented: First, the prices of European options for the fundraiser are derived. Second, a numerical scheme for call option prices in a market with a bubble is proposed, where multiple solutions exist for the Black--Scholes equation and the derivative prices are characterized as the smallest nonnegative supersolution. More precisely, the call option price in such a market is approximated from below by the prices for the fundraiser. This scheme overcomes the difficulty that stems from the discrepancy that the payoff shows linear growth, whereas the price function shows strictly sublinear growth.