Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2016
For a supercritical branching process x = {xn; n ≧ 0, x0 = 1} with random environments, define when xn > 0; and = 1 when xn = 0. When x is assumed to satisfy the standard regularity assumptions, under the non-extinction hypothesis,
is a strongly consistent and asymptotically unbiased estimator for the criticality parameter π and is asymptotically normal. A strongly consistent estimator,
is also proposed for the associated variance, σ2.
Research supported by the University Grants Commission, India.