The Flexible Mortgage: Optimal Financing of a Consumer Durable
运用最优控制理论，研究从消费者角度出发的最优抵押贷款特征，发现合理假设下最优还款流随时间递增，标准固定还款抵押贷款并非最优。
Given the recent flood of new mortgage innovations, it is natural to wonder what features a mortgage which is “optimal” from the consumer's point of view might possess. This paper investigates this issue, using optimal control theory to characterize the time profile of mortgage payments (as well as the value of the mortgage) that maximizes an intertemporal utility function. Among other things, the analysis shows that the optimal mortgage payment stream rises over time under reasonable assumptions, highlighting the non‐optimality of the standard flat‐payment mortgage.