Robustness issues are studied in the context of linear models in linear controller design and in system identification when the true system is nonlinear. The notion of nearly linear system is generalized to include time-varying and open-loop unstable systems. This class of systems, although it presents the simplest possible (global) generalization of linear systems, is in many ways nontrivial for the purpose of linear controller design and linear model identification from input-output data. This is mainly due to the presence of non-conic uncertainty, which is not included in standard treatments of robust control theory and stochastic system identification theory. Signal distribution theory, a realistic non-stochastic signal analysis tool, is used to study the limiting least squares estimates of linear finite impulse response (FIR) and autoregressive with external input (ARX) model parametrizations for two classes of nonlinear systems. Some connections to worst-case analysis of linear model identification are also discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.