467. A note on the equilibrium existence problem in discontinuous games

Paulo Barelli and Idione Soza, School of Economics Discussion Paper No. 467 June 2012, School of Economics, The University of Queensland. Australia.

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Abstract

In this note we prove an equilibrium existence theorem for games with discontinuous pay- offs and convex and compact strategy spaces. It generalizes the classical result of Reny (1999) [Econometrica 67, p. 1029-1056], as well as the recent paper of McLennan, Monteiro, and Tourky (2011) [Econometrica 79, p. 1643-1664]. Our condition is simple and easy to verify. Importantly, an example of a spatial location model shows that our conditions allow for eco- nomically meaningful payoff discontinuities, that are not covered by other conditions in the literature.