Robust Mean Estimation Under a Possibly Incorrect Log-Normality Assumption

Abstract

Nonparametric and parametric estimators are combined to minimize the mean squared error among their linear combinations. The combined estimator is consistent and for large sample sizes has a smaller mean squared error than the nonparametric estimator when the parametric assumption is violated. If the parametric assumption holds, the combined estimator has a smaller MSE than the parametric estimator. Our simulation examples focus on mean estimation when data may follow a lognormal distribution, or can be a mixture with an exponential or a uniform distribution. Motivating examples illustrate possible application areas.