For expectation functions on metric spaces, we provide sufficient conditions for epi-convergence
under varying probability measures and integrands, and examine applications in the area of sieve
estimators, mollifier smoothing, PDE-constrained optimization, and stochastic optimization with
expectation constraints. As a stepping stone to epi-convergence of independent interest, we develop
parametric Fatou’s lemmas under mild integrability assumptions. In the setting of Suslin metric
spaces, the assumptions are expressed in terms of Pasch-Hausdorff envelopes. For general metric
spaces, the assumptions shift to semicontinuity of integrands also on the sample space, which then
is assumed to be a metric space.
Keywords: Epi-convergence, expectation function, stochastic optimization, sieve estimators, mollifers.
2020 Mathematics Subject Classification: 90C15, 60F17.