Optional Decomposition and Lagrange Multipliers

Abstract

Let Q be the set of equivalent martingale measures for a given process S, and let X be a process which is a local supermartingale with respect to any measure in Q. The optional decomposition theorem for X states that there exists a predictable integrand ф such that the difference X−ф•S is a decreasing process. In this paper we give a new proof which uses techniques from stochastic calculus rather than functional analysis, and which removes any boundedness assumption.