Comparison Principles for Stochastic Volterra equations

Abstract: In this work, we establish a comparison principle for stochastic Volterra equations with respect to the initial condition and the drift $b$ applicable to a wide class of Volterra kernels and driving forces $g$ that may be singular in zero. For completely monotone Volterra kernels such a result holds without any further restrictions, while for not completely monotone kernels it is shown that such a principle fails unless the drift is additionally monotone. As a side-product of our results, we also complement the literature on the weak existence of continuous nonnegative solutions. This covers the rough Cox-Ingersoll-Ross process with singular initial conditions.