Hadamard derivative

In mathematics, the Hadamard derivative is a concept of directional derivative for maps between Banach spaces.

It is particularly suited for applications in stochastic programming and asymptotic statistics.

φ :

between Banach spaces

is Hadamard-directionally differentiable[2] at

if there exists a map

φ ( θ +

) − φ ( θ )

Note that this definition does not require continuity or linearity of the derivative with respect to the direction

Although continuity follows automatically from the definition, linearity does not.

A version of functional delta method holds for Hadamard directionally differentiable maps.

be a sequence of random elements in a Banach space

(equipped with Borel sigma-field) such that weak convergence

, some sequence of real numbers

and some random element

with values concentrated on a separable subset of

Then for a measurable map

that is Hadamard directionally differentiable at

) − φ ( μ ) ) →

(where the weak convergence is with respect to Borel sigma-field on the Banach space

This result has applications in optimal inference for wide range of econometric models, including models with partial identification and weak instruments.