Dynamic programming and Bellman Equation

 

We consider the following maximization problem

         

where

   for state 1

   for state 2

 .

 .

 .

   for state n

 

for the same log utility functions with weights.

 

The corresponding n Bellman equations are

 

 .

 .

 .

where

 .

 .

 .

and each probability lies between 0 and 1.

 

We guess

 

 .

 .

 .

That is

 .

 .

 .

 

FOC’s w.r.t. are

 .

 .

 .

They are

 

 .

 .

 .

 

On the other hand, FOC’s w.r.t. are

 .

 .

 .

For the first one

 

In the same way,

 .

 .

 .

 

Plugging FOC’s of k’ with the solutions of ’ s at optimum, we get

 

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

Arranging the first terms each, we have

 

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

 

Comparing coefficients in each kind, we get

 .

 .

 .

They are

 

 

From FOC’s with respect to l and solving as l*

 

Since

So

    for state 1

In the same way

    for state 2

    for state 3

 .

 .

 .

    for state n

 

They are constant. After solving these l*’s, we get

 

Since

 

That is

    for state 1

In the same way

    for state 2

    for state 3

 .

 .

 .

    for state n

 

 

The rest is

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

 

 .

 .

 .

 

The can be simplified as

 

 .

 .

 .

 

 

We can express them as ME=b where

 

and

 

That is

 

 

We have solved out and we can say that the guess is right.