Resumen
We consider a class of stochastic impulse control problems where the controlled process evolves according to a linear, regular, and time homogeneous diffusion. We state a set of easily verifiable sufficient conditions under which the problem is explicitly solvable. We also state an algebraic equation from which the optimal impulse boundary can be determined and, given this threshold, we present the value of the optimal policy in terms of the minimal increasing r-excessive mapping for the controlled diffusion. We also consider the comparative static properties of the optimal policy and state a set of typically satisfied conditions under which increased volatility unambiguously increases the value of the optimal policy and expands the continuation region where exercising the irreversible policy is suboptimal. We also illustrate our results explicitly in two models based on geometric Brownian motion.