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Discontinuous stochastic games

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  • Wei He

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

We prove for a large class of stochastic games with discontinuous payoffs, a stationary Markov perfect equilibrium exists under the condition of “continuation payoff security.” This condition is easy to verify and holds in many economic games. Roughly, a game belongs to this class if for any action/state profiles and continuation payoff, a player can identify another action at the current stage with the payoff not much worse than her current one, even if other players perturb actions slightly. As an illustrative application of the equilibrium existence result, we provide a stochastic dynamic oligopoly model of firm entry, exit, and price competitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei He, 2022. "Discontinuous stochastic games," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 73(4), pages 827-858, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:73:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s00199-021-01374-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-021-01374-5
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Stochastic game; Discontinuous payoff; Continuation payoff security; Stationary Markov perfect equilibrium; Dynamic oligopoly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games

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