With the same normalization as that for standard parametric statistics, and centered at a parameter of interest, many semiparametric estimates based on n observations have been shown to be root-n-consistent and asymptotically normal. In the context of semiparametric averaged derivative estimates, the author goes further by showing that the rate of convergence of the finite-sample distribution to the normal limit distribution can equal that of standard parametric statistics.

This paper proposes a model of the process by which players learn to play repeated coordination games, with the goal of understanding the results of some recent experiments.In those experiments the dynamics of subjects' strategy choices and the resulting patterns of discrimination among equilibria varied systematically with the rule for determining payoffs and the size of the interacting groups, in ways that are not adequately explained by available methods of analysis.The model suggests a possible explanation by showing how the dispersion of subjects' beliefs interacts with the learning process to determine the probability distribution of its dynamics and limiting outcome.

Two-person repeated games with no discounting are considered where there is uncertainty about the type of the players. If there is a possibility that a player is an automaton committed to a particular pure or mixed stage -game action, then this provides a lower bound on the Nash equilibrium payoffs to a normal type of this player. The lower bound is the best available and is robust to the existence of other types. The results are extended to the case of two-sided uncertainty. This work extends Schmidt (1993) who analysed the restricted class of conflicting interest games.

Competing Vertical Structures: Preconmitment and Renegotiation

This paper considers the theory of market versus optimal product diversity in the light of two recent advances in oligopoly theory. The first is the development of discrete choice models to describe heterogeneous consumer tastes, and the application of such models to oligopolistic competition. The second advance is the proof that logconcavity of the consumer taste density guarantees the existence of a price equilibrium. We analyze an oligopoly model with price competition and free entry, taking explicit account of the integer constraint. Under the Chamberlinian symmetry assumption (that tastes are i.i.d.), we first show that logconcavity of the taste density implies there is excessive market provision of variety when each consumer buys one unit of the product from one of the firms. We then show that this result extends to price-sensitive individual demands by proving that the equilibrium number of firms is at least as great as that which would be provided at the second-best social optimum subject to a zero-profit constraint for firms. Our results call into question previous findings for representative consumer models that left open the possibility of insufficient product diversity.