Optimal Consumption Choice under Uncertainty with Intertemporal Substitution†

We extend the analysis of the intertemporal utilitymaximization problem for HindyHuang-Kreps utilities reported in Bank and Riedel (1998) to the stochastic case. Existence and uniqueness of optimal consumption plans are established under arbitrary convex portfolio constraints, including the cases of both complete and incomplete markets. For the complete market setting, Kuhn-Tucker-like necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality are given. Using this characterization, we show that optimal consumption plans are obtained by reflecting the associated level of satisfaction on a stochastic lower bound. When uncertainty is generated by a Lévy process and agents exhibit constant relative risk aversion, closed-form solutions are derived. Depending on the structure of the underlying stochastics, optimal consumption occurs at rates, in gulps, or singular to Lebesgue measure.