On the asymptotic normality of estimating the affine preferential attachment network models with random initial degrees

We consider the estimation of the affine parameter and power-law exponent in the preferential attachment model with random initial degrees. We derive the likelihood, and show that the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is asymptotically normal and efficient. We also propose a quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) to overcome the MLE's dependence on the history of the initial degrees. To demonstrate the power of our idea, we present numerical simulations. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.