An estimator for the scale parameter of the two parameter weibull distribution for type i singly right-censored data

For type I censoring, in addition to the failure times, the number failures is also observed as part of the data. Using this feature of type I singly right-censored data a simple estimator is obtained for the scale parameter of the two parameter Weibull distribution. The exact mean and variance of the estimator are derived and computed for finite sample sizes. Its limiting properties such as asymptotic normality and asymptotic relative efficiency are obtained. The estimator has high efficiency for moderate and heavy censoring. Its use is illustrated by means of an example.     

Hodges-Lehmann Scale Estimator for Cauchy Distribution

We draw here on the relation between the Cauchy and hyperbolic secant distributions to prove that the MLE of the scale parameter of the Cauchy distribution is log-normally distributed and to study the properties of a Hodges-Lehmann type estimator for the scale parameter. This scale estimator is slightly biased but performs well even on small samples regardless of the location parameter. The asymptotic efficiency of the estimator is 98%.     

On a Correction of the Scale MLE for a Two-Parameter Exponential Distribution Under Progressive Type-I Censoring

In this article, we present a corrected version of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the scale parameter with progressively Type-I censored data from a two-parameter exponential distribution. Furthermore, we propose a bias correction of both the location and scale MLE. The properties of the estimates are analyzed by a simulation study which also illustrates the effect of the correction. Moreover, the presented estimators are applied to two data sets. Finally, it is shown that the correction of the scale estimator is also necessary for other distributions with a finite left endpoint of support (e.g., three-parameter Weibull distributions).     

Moment properties of estimators for a type 1 extreme-value regression model

A regression model is considered in which the response variable has a type 1 extreme-value distribution for smallest values. Bias approximations for the maximum likelihood estimators are pivm and a bias reduction estimator for the scale parameter is proposed. The small sample moment properties of the maximum likelihood estimators are compared with the properties of the ordinary least squares estimators and the best linear unbiased estimators based on order statistics for grouped data.     

Robust M-estimators of scale: Minimax bias versus maximal variance

In the location-scale estimation problem, we study robustness properties of M-estimators of the scale parameter under unknown ?-contamination of a fixed symmetric unimodal error distribution F₀. Within a general class of M-estimators, the estimator with minimax asymptotic bias is shown to lie within the subclass of α-interquantile ranges of the empirical distribution symmetrized about the sample median. Our main result is that as ? → 0, the limiting minimax asymptotic bias estimator is sometimes (e.g., when F_o is Cauchy), but not always, the median absolute deviation about the median. It is also shown that contamination in the neighbourhood of a discontinuity of the influence function of a minimax bias estimator can sometimes inflate the asymptotic variance beyond that achieved by placing all the ?-contamination at infinity. This effect is quantified by a new notion of asymptotic efficiency that takes into account the effect of infinitesimal contamination of the parametric model for the error distribution.     

Simple non-parametric estimators for unemployment duration analysis

Summary.  We consider an extension of conventional univariate Kaplan–Meier-type estimators for the hazard rate and the survivor function to multivariate censored data with a censored random regressor. It is an Akritas-type estimator which adapts the non-parametric conditional hazard rate estimator of Beran to more typical data situations in applied analysis. We show with simulations that the estimator has nice finite sample properties and our implementation appears to be fast. As an application we estimate non-parametric conditional quantile functions with German administrative unemployment duration data.     

Asymptotic Properties and Variance Estimators of the M-quantile Regression Coefficients Estimators

M-quantile regression is defined as a “quantile-like” generalization of robust regression based on influence functions. This article outlines asymptotic properties for the M-quantile regression coefficients estimators in the case of i.i.d. data with stochastic regressors, paying attention to adjustments due to the first-step scale estimation. A variance estimator of the M-quantile regression coefficients based on the sandwich approach is proposed. Empirical results show that this estimator appears to perform well under different simulated scenarios. The sandwich estimator is applied in the small area estimation context for the estimation of the mean squared error of an estimator for the small area means. The results obtained improve previous findings, especially in the case of heteroskedastic data.     

A class of high-breakdown scale estimators based on subranges

We consider a new class of scale estimators with 50% breakdown point. The estimators are defined as order statistics of certain subranges. They all have a finite-sample breakdown point of [n/2]/n, which is the best possible value. (Here, [...] denotes the integer part.) One estimator in this class has the same influence function as the median absolute deviation and the least median of squares (LMS) scale estimator (i.e., the length of the shortest half), but its finite-sample efficiency is higher. If we consider the standard deviation of a subsample instead of its range, we obtain a different class of 50% breakdown estimators. This class contains the least trimmed squares (LTS) scale estimator. Simulation shows that the LTS scale estimator is nearly unbiased, so it does not need a small-sample correction factor. Surprisingly, the efficiency of the LTS scale estimator is less than that of the LMS scale estimator.     

Recursive M-estimators of location

This paper deals with recursive M-estimators of a location parameter θ in stationary processes when scale is regarded as a nuisance parameter. For the nonrecursive M-estimators, the median absolute deviation is a useful estimator of scale. Two recursive variants of the median absolute deviation are proposed and the performance of the resulting recursive estimators is examined in a numerical study.     

Comparisons of asymptotic biases and variances of m-estimators of scale under asymmetric contamination

We study robustness properties of two types of M-estimators of scale when both location and scale parameters are unknown: (i) the scale estimator arising from simultaneous M-estimation of location and scale; and (ii) its symmetrization about the sample median. The robustness criteria considered are maximal asymptotic bias and maximal asymptotic variance when the known symmetric unimodal error distribution is subject to unknown, possibly asymmetric, £-con-tamination. Influence functions and asymptotic variance functionals are derived, and computations of asymptotic biases and variances, under the normal distribution with ε-contamination at oo, are presented for the special subclass arising from Huber's Proposal 2 and its symmetrized version. Symmetrization is seen to reduce both asymptotic bias and variance. Some complementary theoretical results are obtained, and the tradeoff between asymptotic bias and variance is discussed.     

The total bootstrap median: a robust and efficient estimator of location and scale for small samples

We propose the total bootstrap median (TBM) as a robust and efficient estimator of location and scale for small samples. We demonstrate its performance by estimating the mean and variance of a variety of distributions. We also show that, if the underlying distribution is unknown and there is either no contamination or low to moderate contamination, the TBM provides a better estimate of the mean, in mean square terms, than the sample mean or the sample median. In addition, the TBM is a better estimator of the variance of the underlying distribution than the sample variance or the square of the bias-corrected median absolute deviation from the median estimator. We also show that the TBM is an explicit L-estimator, which allows a direct study of its properties.     

Extreme Quantile Estimation for Autoregressive Models

ABSTRACT

A quantile autoregresive model is a useful extension of classical autoregresive models as it can capture the influences of conditioning variables on the location, scale, and shape of the response distribution. However, at the extreme tails, standard quantile autoregression estimator is often unstable due to data sparsity. In this article, assuming quantile autoregresive models, we develop a new estimator for extreme conditional quantiles of time series data based on extreme value theory. We build the connection between the second-order conditions for the autoregression coefficients and for the conditional quantile functions, and establish the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator. The finite sample performance of the proposed method is illustrated through a simulation study and the analysis of U.S. retail gasoline price.     

Boundary and Bias Correction in Kernel Hazard Estimation

A new class of local linear hazard estimators based on weighted least square kernel estimation is considered. The class includes the kernel hazard estimator of Ramlau-Hansen (1983), which has the same boundary correction property as the local linear regression estimator (see Fan & Gijbels, 1996). It is shown that all the local linear estimators in the class have the same pointwise asymptotic properties. We derive the multiplicative bias correction of the local linear estimator. In addition we propose a new bias correction technique based on bootstrap estimation of additive bias. This latter method has excellent theoretical properties. Based on an extensive simulation study where we compare the performance of competing estimators, we also recommend the use of the additive bias correction in applied work.     

Computing maximum likelihood estimates from type II doubly censored exponential data

It is well-known that, under Type II double censoring, the maximum likelihood (ML) estimators of the location and scale parameters, θ and δ, of a twoparameter exponential distribution are linear functions of the order statistics. In contrast, when θ is known, theML estimator of δ does not admit a closed form expression. It is shown, however, that theML estimator of the scale parameter exists and is unique. Moreover, it has good large-sample properties. In addition, sharp lower and upper bounds for this estimator are provided, which can serve as starting points for iterative interpolation methods such as regula falsi. Explicit expressions for the expected Fisher information and Cramér-Rao lower bound are also derived. In the Bayesian context, assuming an inverted gamma prior on δ, the uniqueness, boundedness and asymptotics of the highest posterior density estimator of δ can be deduced in a similar way. Finally, an illustrative example is included.     

基于GMM的缺失数据回归模型的半参数估计

响应变量存在数据缺失的情况广泛出现在社会经济研究中,对响应变量存在数据缺失的回归模型提出了一个在矩估计框架下的单一的半参数估计量,这种估计量保留了参数回归估计量与非参数匹配估计量的特性,从而使得该估计量既能在响应变量被观测的子样本中保持较好的拟合性,又能够降低响应变量未被观测的子样本的估计误差,并且证明了这种估计量是一致、渐进正态估计量。     

Scalable statistical inference for averaged implicit stochastic gradient descent

Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) provides a scalable way to compute parameter estimates in applications involving large‐scale data or streaming data. As an alternative version, averaged implicit SGD (AI‐SGD) has been shown to be more stable and more efficient. Although the asymptotic properties of AI‐SGD have been well established, statistical inferences based on it such as interval estimation remain unexplored. The bootstrap method is not computationally feasible because it requires to repeatedly resample from the entire data set. In addition, the plug‐in method is not applicable when there is no explicit covariance matrix formula. In this paper, we propose a scalable statistical inference procedure, which can be used for conducting inferences based on the AI‐SGD estimator. The proposed procedure updates the AI‐SGD estimate as well as many randomly perturbed AI‐SGD estimates, upon the arrival of each observation. We derive some large‐sample theoretical properties of the proposed procedure and examine its performance via simulation studies.     

Estimation of the scale parameter of the Rayleigh distribution with multiply type–II censored sample

Based on a multiply type-II censored sample, the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and Bayes estimator for the scale parameter and the reliability function of the Rayleigh distribution are derived. However, since the MLE does not exist an explicit form, an approximate MLE which is the maximizer of an approximate likelihood function will be given. The comparisons among estimators are investigated through Monte Carlo simulations. An illustrative example with the real data concerning the 23 ball bearing in the life test is presented.     

New simulation results for the calibration and inverse median estimation problems

This paper gives the results of a new simulation study for the familiar calibration problem and the less familiar inverse median estimation problem. The latter arises when one wishes to estimate from a linear regression analysis the value of the independent variable corresponding to a specified value of the median of the dependent variable. For example, from the results of a regression analysis between stress and time to failure, one might wish to estimate the stress at which the median time to failure is 10,000 hours. In the study, the mean square error, Pitman closeness, and probability of overestimation are compared for both the calibration problem and the inverse median estimation problem for (1) the classical estimator, (2) the inverse estimator, and (3) a modified version of an estimator proposed by Naszodi (1978) for both a small sample and a moderately large sample situation.     

Non-parametric estimation of reciprocal coordinate subtangent for right censored dependent scheme

The concept of reciprocal coordinate subtangent (RCST) has been used as a useful tool to study the monotone behavior of a continuous density function and for characterizing probability distributions. In this paper, we propose a non-parametric estimator for RCST based on the censored dependent data. Asymptotic properties of the estimator are established under suitable regularity conditions. A simulation study is carried out to examine the performance of the estimator. The usefulness of the estimator is also examined through a real data.     

Sparse estimation and inference for censored median regression

Censored median regression has proved useful for analyzing survival data in complicated situations, say, when the variance is heteroscedastic or the data contain outliers. In this paper, we study the sparse estimation for censored median regression models, which is an important problem for high dimensional survival data analysis. In particular, a new procedure is proposed to minimize an inverse-censoring-probability weighted least absolute deviation loss subject to the adaptive LASSO penalty and result in a sparse and robust median estimator. We show that, with a proper choice of the tuning parameter, the procedure can identify the underlying sparse model consistently and has desired large-sample properties including root-n consistency and the asymptotic normality. The procedure also enjoys great advantages in computation, since its entire solution path can be obtained efficiently. Furthermore, we propose a resampling method to estimate the variance of the estimator. The performance of the procedure is illustrated by extensive simulations and two real data applications including one microarray gene expression survival data.