Time-Consistency: from Optimization to Risk Measures

Stochastic optimal control is concerned with sequential decision-making under uncertainty. The theory of dynamic risk measures gives values to stochastic processes (costs) as time goes on and information accumulates. Both theories coin, under the same vocable of \emph{time-consistency} (or \emph{dynamic-consistency}), two different notions: the latter is consistency between successive evaluations of a stochastic processes by a dynamic risk measure as information accumulates (a form of monotonicity); the former is consistency between solutions to intertemporal stochastic optimization problems as information accumulates. % Interestingly, time-consistency in stochastic optimal control and time-consistency for dynamic risk measures meet in their use of dynamic programming, or nested, equations. % We provide a theoretical framework that offers i) basic ingredients to jointly define dynamic risk measures and corresponding intertemporal stochastic optimization problems ii) common sets of assumptions that lead to time-consistency for both. Our theoretical framework highlights the role of time and risk preferences, materialized in {one-step aggregators}, in time-consistency. Depending on how you move from one-step time and risk preferences to intertemporal time and risk preferences, and depending on their compatibility (commutation), you will or will not observe time-consistency. We also shed light on the relevance of information structure by giving an explicit role to a state control dynamical system, with a state that parameterizes risk measures and is the input to optimal policies.

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Source https://hal.science/hal-00848268
Author de Lara, Michel, Leclère, Vincent
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 5, 2026, 18:56 (UTC)
Created May 5, 2026, 18:56 (UTC)
Identifier hal-00848268
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherche en Mathématiques et Calcul Scientifique (CERMICS) ; École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC)
creator de Lara, Michel
date 2014-04-02T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 20a1795b-5801-477b-805e-dd1e512d1cc5
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2026-02-07T00:00:00
relation https://enpc.hal.science/hal-01208297v1
set_spec type:UNDEFINED