On the Recursive Saddle Point Method

In this paper a simple dynamic optimization problem is solved with the help of
the recursive saddle point method developed by Marcet and Marimon (1999). According
to Marcet and Marimon, their technique should yield a full characterization
of the set of solutions for this problem. We show though, that while their method
allows us to calculate the true value of the optimization program, not all solutions
which it admits are correct. Indeed, some of the policies which it generates as
solutions to our problem, are either suboptimal or do not even satisfy feasibility.
We identify the reasons underlying this failure and discuss its implications for the
numerous existing applications.