Skip to main content
Log in

On the tail index of a heavy tailed distribution

  • Published:
Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper proposes some new estimators for the tail index of a heavy tailed distribution when only a few largest values are observed within blocks. These estimators are proved to be asymptotically normal under suitable conditions, and their Edgeworth expansions are obtained. Empirical likelihood method is also employed to construct confidence intervals for the tail index. The comparison for the confidence intervals based on the normal approximation and the empirical likelihood method is made in terms of coverage probability and length of the confidence intervals. The simulation study shows that the empirical likelihood method outperforms the normal approximation method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balakrishnan N. and Cohen A.C. (1991). Order statistics and inference. Academic Press, Boston

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Bingham N.H., Goldie C.M. and Teugels J.L. (1987). Regular variation. Cambridge University, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S. (1996). Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for nonparametric density estimation. Biometrika 83: 329–341

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S. and Hall P. (1993). Smoothed empirical likelihood confidence intervals for quantiles. The Annals of Statistics 21: 1166–1181

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S. and Qin Y.S. (2000). Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for local linear smoothers. Biometrika 87: 946–953

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Davydov Yu., Paulauskas V. and Račkauskas A. (2000). More on P-stable convex sets in Banach spaces. Journal of Theoretical Probability 13: 39–64

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • De Haan L., Peng L. (1998). Comparison of tail index estimators. Statistica Neerlandica 32: 60–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Haan L. and Stadtmüller U. (1996). Generalized regular variation of second order. Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society (Series A) 61: 381–395

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Dekkers A.L.M., Einmahl J.H.J. and de Haan L. (1989). A moment estimator for the index of an extreme-value distribution. The Annals of Statistics 17: 1833–1855

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Drees H. (1998). On smooth statistical tail functionals. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 25: 187–210

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Embrechts P., Klüppelberg C. and Mikosch T. (1997). Modelling extremal events for insurance and finance. Springer, Berlin

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Gadeikis K. and Paulauskas V. (2005). On the estimation of a changepoint in a tail index. Lithuanian Mathematical Journal 45: 272–283

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Geluk J.L., de Haan L. (1987). Regular variation, extensions and Tauberian theorems. CWI Tract, 40. Amsterdam: Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science.

  • Hall P. and La Scala L. (1990). Methodology and algorithms of empirical likelihood. International Statistical Review 58: 109–127

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Hill B.M. (1975). A simple general approach to inference about the tail of a distribution. The Annals of Statistics 3: 1163–1174

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Kolaczyk E.D. (1994). Empirical likelihood for generalized linear models. Statistica Sinica 4: 199–218

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Lu J. and Peng L. (2002). Likelihood based confidence intervals for the tail index. Extremes 5(4): 337–352

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Lu X. and Qi Y. (2004). Empirical likelihood for the additive risk model. Probability and Mathematical Statistics 24: 419–431

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Owen A. (1988). Empirical likelihood ratio confidence intervals for a single functional. Biometrika 75: 237–249

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Owen A. (1990). Empirical likelihood regions. The Annals of Statistics 18: 90–120

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Owen A. (1991). Empirical likelihood for linear models. The Annals of Statistics 19: 1725–1747

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Owen A. (2001). Empirical Likelihood. Chapman and Hall, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Paulauskas V. (2003). A new estimator for a tail index. Acta Applicandae Mathematicae 79: 55–67

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Peng L. and Qi Y. (2004). Estimating the first- and second-order parameters of a heavy-tailed distribution. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics 46: 305–312

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Peng L. and Qi Y. (2006a). A new calibration method of constructing empirical likelihood-based confidence intervals for the tail index. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics 48: 59–66

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Peng L. and Qi Y. (2006b). Confidence regions for high quantiles of a heavy-tailed distribution. The Annals of Statistics 34(4): 1964–1986

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Petrov V.V. (1995). Limit theorems of probability theory: sequences of independent random variables. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Pickands J. (1975). Statistical inference using extreme order statistics. The Annals of Statistics 3: 119–131

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Qin G. and Jing B.Y. (2001a). Empirical likelihood for censored linear regression. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 28: 661–673

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Qin G. and Jing B.Y. (2001b). Censored partial linear models and empirical likelihood. Journal of Multivariate Analysis 78: 37–61

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Qin G. and Jing B.Y. (2001c). Empirical likelihood for Cox regression model under random censorship. Communications in Statistics Simulation and Computation 30: 79–90

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Qin J. and Lawless J. (1994). Empirical likelihood and general estimating equations. The Annals of Statistics 22: 300–325

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Segers J. and Teugels J. (2000). Testing the Gumbel hypothesis by the Galton’s ratio. Extremes 3(3): 291–303

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Tsao M. (2004). A new method of calibration for the empirical loglikelihood ratio. Statistics & Probability Letters 68: 305–314

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q.H. and Jing B.Y. (2003). Empirical likelihood for partial linear models. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics 55: 585–595

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q.H. and Li G. (2002). Empirical likelihood semiparametric regression analysis under random censorship. Journal of Multivariate Analysis 83: 469–486

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q.H. and Rao J.N.K. (2002). Empirical likelihood-based inference in linear errors-in-covariables models with validation data. Biometrika 89: 345–358

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongcheng Qi.

Additional information

The research was supported by NSF grant DMS 0604176.

About this article

Cite this article

Qi, Y. On the tail index of a heavy tailed distribution. Ann Inst Stat Math 62, 277–298 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10463-008-0176-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10463-008-0176-2

Keywords

Navigation