We prove existence and uniqueness of a stationary distribution and absolute regularity for nonlinear GARCH and INGARCH models of order (p, q). In contrast to previous work we impose, besides a geometric drift condition, only a semi-contractive condition which allows us to include models which would be ruled out by a fully contractive condition. This results in a subgeometric rather than the more usual geometric decay rate of the mixing coefficients. The proofs are heavily based on a coupling of two versions of the processes.

In Chaudhuri and Dasgupta's 2006 paper a certain stochastic model for ‘replicating character strings’ (such as in DNA sequences) was studied. In their model, a random ‘input’ sequence was subjected to random mutations, insertions, and deletions, resulting in a random ‘output’ sequence. In this paper their model will be set up in a slightly different way, in an effort to facilitate further development of the theory for their model. In their 2006 paper, Chaudhuri and Dasgupta showed that, under certain conditions, strict stationarity of the ‘input’ sequence would be preserved by the ‘output’ sequence, and they proved a similar ‘preservation’ result for the property of strong mixing with exponential mixing rate. In our setup, we will in spirit slightly extend their ‘preservation of stationarity’ result, and also prove a ‘preservation’ result for the property of absolute regularity with summable mixing rate.