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Certified High-Dimensional Wasserstein Robust Portfolio Optimization

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  • Chung-Han Hsieh
  • Rong Gan

Abstract

We develop a certified, scalable approximation for high-dimensional Wasserstein distributionally robust portfolio optimization. For expected-utility maximization under order-one Wasserstein ambiguity, standard duality yields a semi-infinite convex program. For long-only portfolios with box support under the one-norm ground metric, an exact sample-specific vertex reformulation provides an exponential-size computational benchmark. We then majorize the utility by supporting hyperplanes and dualize the support subproblems, obtaining a finite hyperplane--dual formulation over compact polyhedral supports. Under the one-norm ground metric and polyhedral portfolio constraints, this formulation is a polynomial-size linear program. The uniform utility-approximation error bounds both the robust-value error and the near-optimality gap for the original robust problem. Experiments validate the certified approximation and demonstrate monthly 476-asset rebalancing and computational scalability to 1,000 assets.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung-Han Hsieh & Rong Gan, 2026. "Certified High-Dimensional Wasserstein Robust Portfolio Optimization," Papers 2608.07032, arXiv.org.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2608.07032
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wolfram Wiesemann & Daniel Kuhn & Melvyn Sim, 2014. "Distributionally Robust Convex Optimization," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1358-1376, December.
    2. Hsieh, Chung-Han, 2024. "On solving robust log-optimal portfolio: A supporting hyperplane approximation approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 313(3), pages 1129-1139.
    3. Rui Gao, 2023. "Finite-Sample Guarantees for Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization: Breaking the Curse of Dimensionality," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 71(6), pages 2291-2306, November.
    4. Meysam Cheramin & Jianqiang Cheng & Ruiwei Jiang & Kai Pan, 2022. "Computationally Efficient Approximations for Distributionally Robust Optimization Under Moment and Wasserstein Ambiguity," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1768-1794, May.
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