We develop an equilibrium framework that relaxes the standard assumption that people have a correctly specified view of their environment. Each player is characterized by a (possibly misspecified) subjective model, which describes the set of feasible beliefs over payoff‐relevant consequences as a function of actions. We introduce the notion of a Berk–Nash equilibrium: Each player follows a strategy that is optimal given her belief, and her belief is restricted to be the best fit among the set of beliefs she considers possible. The notion of best fit is formalized in terms of minimizing the Kullback–Leibler divergence, which is endogenous and depends on the equilibrium strategy profile. Standard solution concepts such as Nash equilibrium and self‐confirming equilibrium constitute special cases where players have correctly specified models. We provide a learning foundation for Berk–Nash equilibrium by extending and combining results from the statistics literature on misspecified learning and the economics literature on learning in games.

This paper considers semiparametric efficient estimation of conditional moment models with possibly nonsmooth residuals in unknown parametric components (θ) and unknown functions (h) of endogenous variables. We show that: (1) the penalized sieve minimum distance (PSMD) estima-tor (ˆ θ, ˆ h) can simultaneously achieve root-n asymptotic normality ofˆθofˆofˆθ and nonparametric optimal convergence rate ofˆhofˆ ofˆh, allowing for noncompact function parameter spaces; (2) a simple weighted bootstrap procedure consistently estimates the limiting distribution of the PSMDˆθPSMDˆPSMDˆθ; (3) the semi-parametric efficiency bound formula of Ai and Chen (2003) remains valid for conditional models with nonsmooth residuals, and the optimally weighted PSMD estimator achieves the bound; (4) the centered, profiled optimally weighted PSMD criterion is asymptotically chi-square distributed. We illustrate our theories using a partially linear quantile instrumental variables (IV) regression, a Monte Carlo study, and an empirical estimation of the shape-invariant quantile IV Engel curves. JEL Classification: C14; C22

For semi/nonparametric conditional moment models containing unknown parametric components (θ) and unknown functions of endogenous variables (h), Newey and Powell (2003) and Ai and Chen (2003) propose sieve minimum distance (SMD) estimation of (θ, h) and derive the large sample properties. This paper greatly extends their results by establishing the followings: (1) The penalized SMD (PSMD) estimator (θ,ĥ) can simultaneously achieve root-n asymptotic normality ofθ and nonparametric optimal convergence rate ofĥ, allowing for models with possibly nonsmooth residuals and/or noncompact infinite dimensional parameter spaces. (2) A simple weighted bootstrap procedure can consistently estimate the limiting distribution of the PSMDθ. (3) The semiparametric efficiency bound results of Ai and Chen (2003) remain valid for conditional models with nonsmooth residuals, and the optimally weighted PSMD estimator achieves the bounds. (4) The profiled optimally weighted PSMD criterion is asymptotically Chi-square distributed, which implies an alternative consistent estimation of confidence region of the efficient PSMD estimator of θ. All the theoretical results are stated in terms of any consistent nonparametric estimator of conditional mean functions. We illustrate our general theories using a partially linear quantile instrumental variables regression, a Monte Carlo study, and an empirical estimation of the shape-invariant quantile Engel curves with endogenous total expenditure. JEL classification: C14; C22

This paper studies nonparametric estimation of conditional moment models in which the generalized residual functions can be nonsmooth in the unknown functions of endogenous variables. This is a nonparametric nonlinear instrumental variables (IV) problem. We propose a class of penalized sieve minimum distance (PSMD) estimators which are minimizers of a penalized empirical minimum distance criterion over a collection of sieve spaces that are dense in the infinite dimensional function parameter space. Some of the PSMD procedures use slowly growing finite dimensional sieves with flexible penalties or without any penalty; some use large dimensional sieves with lower semicompact and/or convex penalties. We establish their consistency and the convergence rates in Banach space norms (such as a sup-norm or a root mean squared norm), allowing for possibly non-compact infinite dimensional parameter spaces. For both mildly and severely ill-posed nonlinear inverse problems, our convergence rates in Hilbert space norms (such as a root mean squared norm) achieve the known minimax optimal rate for the nonparametric mean IV regression. We illustrate the theory with a nonparametric additive quantile IV regression. We present a simulation study and an empirical application of estimating nonparametric quantile IV Engel curves.

This paper considers inference on functionals of semi/nonparametric conditional moment restrictions with possibly nonsmooth generalized residuals, which include all of the (nonlinear) nonparametric instrumental variables (IV) as special cases. These models are often ill-posed and hence it is difficult to verify whether a (possibly nonlinear) functional is root-n estimable or not. We provide computationally simple, unified inference procedures that are asymptotically valid regardless of whether a functional is root-n estimable or not. We establish the following new useful results: (1) the asymptotic normality of a plug-in penalized sieve minimum distance (PSMD) estimator of a (possibly nonlinear) functional; (2) the consistency of simple sieve variance estimators for the plug-in PSMD estimator, and hence the asymptotic chi-square distribution of the sieve Wald statistic; (3) the asymptotic chi-square distribution of an optimally weighted sieve quasi likelihood ratio (QLR) test under the null hypothesis; (4) the asymptotic tight distribution of a non-optimally weighted sieve QLR statistic under the null; (5) the consistency of generalized residual bootstrap sieve Wald and QLR tests; (6) local power properties of sieve Wald and QLR tests and of their bootstrap versions; (7) asymptotic properties of sieve Wald and SQLR for functionals of increasing dimension. Simulation studies and an empirical illustration of a nonparametric quantile IV regression are presented.

This paper studies nonparametric estimation of conditional moment restrictions in which the generalized residual functions can be nonsmooth in the unknown functions of endogenous variables. This is a nonparametric nonlinear instrumental variables (IV) problem. We propose a class of penalized sieve minimum distance (PSMD) estimators, which are minimizers of a penalized empirical minimum distance criterion over a collection of sieve spaces that are dense in the infinite‐dimensional function parameter space. Some of the PSMD procedures use slowly growing finite‐dimensional sieves with flexible penalties or without any penalty; others use large dimensional sieves with lower semicompact and/or convex penalties. We establish their consistency and the convergence rates in Banach space norms (such as a sup‐norm or a root mean squared norm), allowing for possibly noncompact infinite‐dimensional parameter spaces. For both mildly and severely ill‐posed nonlinear inverse problems, our convergence rates in Hilbert space norms (such as a root mean squared norm) achieve the known minimax optimal rate for the nonparametric mean IV regression. We illustrate the theory with a nonparametric additive quantile IV regression. We present a simulation study and an empirical application of estimating nonparametric quantile IV Engel curves.

This paper studies nonparametric estimation of conditional moment models in which the residual functions could be nonsmooth with respect to the unknown functions of endogenous variables. It is a problem of nonparametric nonlinear instrumental variables (IV) estimation, and a difficult nonlinear ill-posed inverse problem with an unknown operator. We first propose a penalized sieve minimum distance (SMD) estimator of the unknown functions that are identified via the conditional moment models. We then establish its consistency and convergence rate (in strong metric), allowing for possibly non-compact function parameter spaces, possibly non-compact finite or infinite dimensional sieves with flexible lower semicompact or convex penalty, or finite dimensional linear sieves without penalty. Under relatively low-level sufficient conditions, and for both mildly and severely ill-posed problems, we show that the convergence rates for the nonlinear ill-posed inverse problems coincide with the known minimax optimal rates for the nonparametric mean IV regression. We illustrate the theory by two important applications: root-n asymptotic normality of the plug-in penalized SMD estimator of a weighted average derivative of a nonparametric nonlinear IV regression, and the convergence rate of a nonparametric additive quantile IV regression. We also present a simulation study and an empirical estimation of a system of nonparametric quantile IV Engel curves.KEYWORDS: Nonsmooth residuals, nonlinear ill-posed inverse, penalized sieve minimum distance, modulus of continuity, average derivative of a nonparametric nonlinear IV regression, nonparametric additive quantile IV regression.JEL Classification: C13, C14, D12.

This paper studies how international investors' concerns about model misspecification affect sovereign bond spreads. We develop a general equilibrium model of sovereign debt with endogenous default wherein investors fear that the probability model of the underlying state of the borrowing economy is misspecified. Consequently, investors demand higher returns on their bond holdings to compensate for the default risk in the context of uncertainty. In contrast with the existing literature on sovereign default, we match the bond spreads dynamics observed in the data together with other business cycle features for Argentina, while preserving the default frequency at historical low levels. JEL: D81, E21, E32, E43, F34.