Augmented truncation approximations of discrete-time Markov chains

Let P be a positive recurrent infinite transition matrix with invariant distribution π and be a truncated and arbitrarily augmented stochastic matrix with invariant distribution _(n)π. We investigate the convergence ‖_(n)π−π‖→0, as n→∞, and derive a widely applicable sufficient criterion. Moreover, computable bounds on the error ‖_(n)π−π‖ are obtained for polynomially and geometrically ergodic chains. The bounds become rather explicit when the chains are stochastically monotone.