Notes On Upper Hemi-Continuity: ECON 201B - Game Theory

This document discusses upper and lower hemi-continuity, which are important concepts in proving the existence of mixed-strategy Nash equilibria in finite games. It provides formal definitions of correspondences, closed graphs, and upper and lower hemi-continuity. Examples are used to illustrate the differences between these types of continuity. Upper hemi-continuity ensures that limit points of sequences in the correspondence are contained in the correspondence, while lower hemi-continuity ensures any point in the correspondence can be reached by a sequence. The document also reviews the conditions needed for a best response correspondence to have a fixed point guaranteeing a Nash equilibrium, including that the strategy space is compact and convex, the correspondence is nonempty and

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Notes On Upper Hemi-Continuity: ECON 201B - Game Theory

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Notes on Upper Hemi-continuity y

ECON 201B - Game Theory

Guillermo Ordoñez
UCLA
January 21, 2006

These notes are intended to give a discussion about upper and lower hemi-
continuity given the importance of the …rst notion in the proof about the exis-
tence of a mixed-strategy Nash Equilibrium in every …nite strategic form game.

1 Continuity
First let me de…ne correspondence in formal terms.

De…nition 1 A correspondence :X Y is a mapping which associates

each x 2 X with a subset (x) of Y

Two considerations are important here:

1) A correspondence (x) can be empty
2) A correspondence can be regarded as a function if (x) consists of one
element for each x 2 X.

De…nition 2 : X Y has a closed graph if 1) xn 2 X converges to

x 2 X, 2) yn 2 (xn ), and 3) yn converges to y , then y 2 (x )

The notion of continuity most used in economics is upper hemi-continuity

De…nition 3 : X Y is upper hemi-continuous (uhc) if 1) it has a

closed graph and 2) the image of is compact.

Note that closed graph property and upper hemi-continuity are equivalent
ONLY if the range of is contained in some compact set K Y

However, there is another notion of continuity, which is lower hemi-continuity.

0 y These notes were prepared as a back up material for TA session. If you have any questions

or comments, or notice any errors or typos, please drop me a line at [email protected]

1
De…nition 4 : X Y is lower hemi-continuous (lhc) if 1) xn 2 X
converges to x 2 X and 2) y 2 (x ), then there exists a sequence fyn gn and
N such that yn 2 (xn ) for all n N , and yn converges to y :

Finally, the concept of continuity considers both concepts

De…nition 5 : X Y is continuous if it is both upper and lower hemi-

continuous

2 Examples
In order to see how to check if a correspondence is upper hemi-continuous, lower
hemi-continuous, both or none, consider the following examples.
The …rst …gure, that certainly will remember you a best response in a typical
2 by 2 game, represents a correspondence that is upper hemi-continuous but not
lower hemi-continuous. How can you observe that?.
y

(x*,y*) B

(x*,y*)A

Let’s start following the de…nition of upper hemi-continuity. First take a

sequence fxn g that converges to x from the left. Second take the values yn 2
(xn ) (which in this case would be yn = 0 for all xn ). As can be seen fyn g
approaches y = 0 such that y = 0 belongs to the correspondence of x (i.e.
y 2 (x ) in the point (x ; y )A ). Hence the …gure corresponds to a closed
graph. Furthermore the image of is compact since it is a closed and bounded
set. As a conclusion, this example corresponds to an upper hemi-continuous
correspondence.
However this case is not lower hemi-continuous. First, take a point like
(x ; y )B such that y 2 (x ). Second, take a sequence fxn g that converges
to x . Then, it is not possible to …nd a sequence yn 2 (xn ) such that fyn g
approaches to y for any n > N big enough.
As can be seen, the key to check upper hemi-continuity is to take a sequence
of fxn g ! x and fyn g ! y (such that yn 2 (xn )) and to check whether
y 2 (x ):

2
To check lower hemi-continuity it’s necessary to take a point y 2 (x )
and a sequence of fxn g ! x and to check whether it exists a sequence where
yn 2 (xn ) and fyn g ! y
In words, uhc shows that any sequence in the correspondence converges to a
limit in the correspondence while lhc shows that any point in the correspondence
can be reached by a sequence in the correspondence. Naturally the combination
of these two conditions make a correspondence to be continuous.

In order for you to practice the logic of determining whether a correspon-

dence is uhc, lhc, both or none, here go di¤erent cases.

The following example is a case of a correspondence that is lower hemi-

continuous but not upper hemi-continuous, Why?
y

The following example is a case of a correspondence (a function in fact) that

is upper hemi-continuous but not lower hemi-continuous, Why?
y

The following example is a case of a correspondence that is not upper hemi-

continuous nor lower hemi-continuous, Why?

3
y

The following example is a case of a correspondence (a function in fact) that

is continuous (i.e. both upper and lower hemi-continuous). Why?
y

and …nally, to see the importance of compactness to de…ne upper hemi-

continuity, consider the following example, which is a closed graph but not
upper hemi-continuous. Why?
y

x* x

4
3 Conditions for NE existence
Now we know what is upper hemi-continuity, let’s read again the su¢ cient
conditions for a best response correspondence r : to have a …xed point
(following Kakutani’s theorem) and hence to show the existence of a mixed
strategy Nash Equilibrium in every …nite strategic form game.