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Large Deviations and Stochastic Stability in the Small Noise Double Limit, I: Theory

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  • Sandholm, William H.

    (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University)

  • Staudigl, Mathias

    (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University)

Abstract

We consider a model of stochastic evolution under general noisy best response protocols, allowing the probabilities of suboptimal choices to depend on their payoff consequences. Our analysis focuses on behavior in the small noise double limit: we first take the noise level in agents’ decisions to zero, and then take the population size to infinity. We show that in this double limit, escape from and transitions between equilibria can be described in terms of solutions to continuous optimal control problems. These are used in turn to characterize the asymptotics of the the stationary distribution, and so to determine the stochastically stable states. The control problems are tractable in certain interesting cases, allowing analytical descriptions of the escape dynamics and long run behavior of the stochastic evolutionary process.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandholm, William H. & Staudigl, Mathias, 2016. "Large Deviations and Stochastic Stability in the Small Noise Double Limit, I: Theory," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 505, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    • Handle: RePEc:bie:wpaper:505
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    19. Sandholm, William H. & Staudigl, Mathias, 2016. "Large Deviations and Stochastic Stability in the Small Noise Double Limit, II: The Logit Model," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 506, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
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    Cited by:

    1. Arigapudi, Srinivas, 2020. "Transitions between equilibria in bilingual games under logit choice," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 24-34.
    2. Sung-Ha Hwang & Jonathan Newton, 2017. "Payoff-dependent dynamics and coordination games," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(3), pages 589-604, October.
    3. Arigapudi, Srinivas, 2020. "Exit from equilibrium in coordination games under probit choice," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 168-202.
    4. Daniel Christopher Opolot, 2022. "On the relationship between p-dominance and stochastic stability in network games," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 51(2), pages 307-351, June.
    5. Sawa, Ryoji & Wu, Jiabin, 2023. "Statistical inference in evolutionary dynamics," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 294-316.
    6. William H. Sandholm & Mathias Staudigl, 2018. "Sample Path Large Deviations for Stochastic Evolutionary Game Dynamics," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 1348-1377, November.
    7. Konstantin Avrachenkov & Vivek S. Borkar, 2019. "Metastability in Stochastic Replicator Dynamics," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 366-390, June.
    8. Hwang, Sung-Ha & Rey-Bellet, Luc, 2021. "Positive feedback in coordination games: Stochastic evolutionary dynamics and the logit choice rule," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 355-373.
    9. Jonathan Newton, 2018. "Evolutionary Game Theory: A Renaissance," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-67, May.
    10. Sawa, Ryoji, 2021. "A prospect theory Nash bargaining solution and its stochastic stability," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 692-711.
    11. Sawa, Ryoji & Wu, Jiabin, 2018. "Reference-dependent preferences, super-dominance and stochastic stability," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 96-104.
    12. Sawa, Ryoji & Wu, Jiabin, 2018. "Prospect dynamics and loss dominance," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 98-124.
    13. Sawa, Ryoji, 2021. "A stochastic stability analysis with observation errors in normal form games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 570-589.
    14. Sandholm, William H. & Staudigl, Mathias, 2016. "Large Deviations and Stochastic Stability in the Small Noise Double Limit, II: The Logit Model," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 506, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    15. Izquierdo, Luis R. & Izquierdo, Segismundo S. & Sandholm, William H., 2019. "An introduction to ABED: Agent-based simulation of evolutionary game dynamics," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 434-462.
    16. Williams, Noah, 2022. "Learning and equilibrium transitions: Stochastic stability in discounted stochastic fictitious play," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

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