A sequential stopping problem with costly reversibility




Lempa, Jukka; Saarinen, Harto; Taipale, Tarmo

PublisherApplied Probability Trust

2025

 Journal of Applied Probability

0021-9002

1475-6072

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1017/jpr.2025.10033

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-applied-probability/article/sequential-stopping-problem-with-costly-reversibility/2EE4DD82CD3CDD8CDA0C9CA91C67CFD6

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508218530



We study sequential optimal stopping with partial reversibility. The optimal stopping problem is subject to implementation delay, which is random and exponentially distributed. Once the stopping decision is made, the decision maker can, by incurring a cost, call the decision off and restart the stopping problem. The optimization criterion is to maximize the expected present value of the total payoff. We characterize the value function in terms of a Bellman principle for a wide class of payoff functions and potentially multidimensional strong Markov dynamics. We also analyse the case of linear diffusion dynamics and characterize the value function and the optimal decision rule for a wide class of payoff functions.


The Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) and OP Research Foundation (grant number 20240114) are acknowledged for funding.


Last updated on 29/01/2026 09:52:52 AM