EconBase
← All papers

A Stochastic Nested Fixed Point Algorithm for Large-Scale BLP Estimation

Zhentong Lu, Myung Hwan Seo, Youngki Shin, Qichen Zhang

arXiv 21 Sep 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2609.23998 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

We develop a stochastic nested fixed point (SNFP) estimator for random coefficients logit demand models that updates model parameters using stochastic gradients and performs demand inversion one market at a time. Relative to the conventional nested fixed point (NFP) estimator, SNFP substantially reduces memory requirements and computational cost, making estimation feasible in very large datasets. We establish the large-$T$ (number of markets) asymptotic properties of the estimator under regularity conditions. We also characterize the effect of sharing one block of simulation draws across markets and show how to correct for it. Monte Carlo simulations show that the SNFP estimator achieves statistical accuracy comparable to the NFP estimator, and in our benchmark a single online pass estimates a model with 100 million markets in about 5.5 hours. An empirical application using scanner data further demonstrates the practical advantages of SNFP for large-scale demand estimation.

Citation extraction

44
references
97
in-text mentions
45
distinct cited
0
self-citations
14,481
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 58% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Chen, Kim, Lee, Seo and Song (2025) SLIM: Stochastic Learning and Inference in Overidentified Models1.00083100%
2Dubé, Fox and Su (2012) Improving the Numerical Performance of Static and Dynamic Aggregate Discrete Choice Random Coefficients Demand Estimation1.00053100%
3Freyberger (2015) Asymptotic Theory for Differentiated Products Demand Models with Many Markets0.92810480%
4Conlon and Gortmaker (2020) Best Practices for Differentiated Products Demand Estimation with PyBLP0.9285480%
5Polyak and Juditsky (1992) Acceleration of Stochastic Approximation by Averaging0.8746367%
6Chen, Lee, Liao, Seo, Shin and Song (2025) SGMM: Stochastic Approximation to Generalized Method of Moments0.87462100%
7Hong, Li and Li (2021) BLP Estimation Using Laplace Transformation and Overlapping Simulation Draws0.81142100%
8Robbins and Monro (1951) A Stochastic Approximation Method0.73732100%
9Ruppert (1988) Efficient Estimations from a Slowly Convergent Robbins–Monro Process0.73732100%
10Berry, Linton and Pakes (2004) Limit Theorems for Estimating the Parameters of Differentiated Product Demand Systems0.6444250%

Showing the top 10 of 45 scored citations.