Disjunctive Decomposition for Two-Stage Stochastic Mixed-Binary Programs with Random Recourse

This paper introduces disjunctive decomposition for two-stage mixed 0-1 stochastic integer programs (SIPs) with random recourse. Disjunctive decomposition allows for cutting planes based on disjunctive programming to be generated for each scenario subproblem under a temporal decomposition setting of the SIP problem. A new class of valid inequalities for mixed 0-1 SIP with random recourse … Read more

Convergence Analysis of a Weighted Barrier Decomposition Algorithm for Two Stage Stochastic Programming

Mehrotra and Ozevin computationally found that a weighted primal barrier decomposition algorithm significantly outperforms the barrier decomposition proposed and analyzed in Zhao, and Mehrotra and Ozevin. This paper provides a theoretical foundation for the weighted barrier decomposition algorithm (WBDA). Although the worst case analysis of the WBDA achieves a first-stage iteration complexity bound that is … Read more

Computational study of a chance constrained portfolio selection problem

We study approximations of chance constrained problems. In particular, we consider the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) approach and discuss convergence properties of the resulting problem. A method for constructing bounds for the optimal value of the considered problem is discussed and we suggest how one should tune the underlying parameters to obtain a good approximation … Read more

Formulation and solution strategies for nonparametric nonlinear stochastic programs, with an application in finance

We consider a class of stochastic programming models where the uncertainty is classically represented using parametric distributions families. The parameters are then usually estimated together with the optimal value of the problem. However, misspecification of the underlying random variables often leads to irrealistic results when little is known about their true distributions. We propose to … Read more

A difference of convex formulation of value-at-risk constrained optimization

In this article, we present a representation of value-at-risk (VaR) as a difference of convex (D.C.) functions in the case where the distribution of the underlying random variable is discrete and has finitely many atoms. The D.C. representation is used to study a financial risk-return portfolio selection problem with a VaR constraint. A branch-and-bound algorithm … Read more

Sample Complexity of Smooth Stochastic Optimization

Let $N(\epsilon,\delta)$ be the number of samples needed when solving a stochastic program such that the objective function evaluated at the sample optimizer is within $\epsilon$ of the true optimum with probability $1-\delta$. Previous results are of the form $N(\epsilon,\delta)=O(\epsilon^{-2}\log \delta^{-1})$. However, a smooth objective function is often locally quadratic at an interior optimum. For … Read more

On Adaptive Multicut Aggregation for Two-Stage Stochastic Linear Programs with Recourse

Outer linearization methods for two-stage stochastic linear programs with recourse, such as the L-shaped algorithm,generally apply a single optimality cut on the nonlinear objective at each major iteration, while the multicut version of the algorithm allows for several cuts to be placed at once. In general, the L-shaped algorithm tends to have more major iterations … Read more

Solving chance-constrained combinatorial problems to optimality

The aim of this paper is to provide new efficient methods for solving general chance-constrained integer linear programs to optimality. Valid linear inequalities are given for these problems. They are proved to characterize properly the set of solutions. They are based on a specific scenario, whose definition impacts strongly on the quality of the linear … Read more

Sample Average Approximation of Expected Value Constrained Stochastic Programs

We propose a sample average approximation (SAA) method for stochastic programming problems involving an expected value constraint. Such problems arise, for example, in portfolio selection with constraints on conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). Our contributions include an analysis of the convergence rate and a statistical validation scheme for the proposed SAA method. Computational results using a portfolio … Read more

New Formulations for Optimization Under Stochastic Dominance Constraints

Stochastic dominance constraints allow a decision-maker to manage risk in an optimization setting by requiring their decision to yield a random outcome which stochastically dominates a reference random outcome. We present new integer and linear programming formulations for optimization under first and second-order stochastic dominance constraints, respectively. These formulations are more compact than existing formulations, … Read more