The Annals of Statistics

Information theory and superefficiency

Andrew Barron and Nicolas Hengartner
Source: Ann. Statist. Volume 26, Number 5 (1998), 1800-1825.

Abstract

The asymptotic risk of efficient estimators with Kullback–Leibler loss in smoothly parametrized statistical models is $k/2_n$, where $k$ is the parameter dimension and $n$ is the sample size. Under fairly general conditions, we given a simple information-theoretic proof that the set of parameter values where any arbitrary estimator is superefficient is negligible. The proof is based on a result of Rissanen that codes have asymptotic redundancy not smaller than $(k/2)\log n$, except in a set of measure 0.

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Primary Subjects: 62F12, 94A65
Secondary Subjects: 94A29, 62G20
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Links and Identifiers

Permanent link to this document: http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1024691358
Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet): MR1673279
Digital Object Identifier: doi:10.1214/aos/1024691358
Zentralblatt MATH identifier: 0932.62005

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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06520-8290 E-MAIL: barron@stat.yale.edu nicolas.hengartner@yale.edu

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The Annals of Statistics

The Annals of Statistics