Optimal consumption under adjustment costs with respect to multiple reference levels

Abstract: This paper studies a type of consumption preference where some adjustment costs are incured whenever the past spending maximum and the past spending minimum records are updated. This preference can capture the adverse effects of the historical consumption high and low values on the agent's consumption performance, thereby matching with some empirically observed smooth consumption patterns. By employing the dual transform, the smooth-fit conditions and the super-contact conditions, we obtain the closed-form solution of the dual PDE problem, and can characterize the optimal investment and consumption controls in the piecewise feedback form. We provide the rigorous proof of the verification theorem and compensate the theoretical findings with some numerical examples and financial implications.