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Improved multivariate normal mean estimation with unknown covariance when p is greater than n

Abstract

We consider the problem of estimating the mean vector of a p-variate normal (θ,Σ)(\theta,\Sigma) distribution under invariant quadratic loss, (δθ)Σ1(δθ)(\delta-\theta)'\Sigma^{-1}(\delta-\theta), when the covariance is unknown. We propose a new class of estimators that dominate the usual estimator δ0(X)=X\delta^0(X)=X. The proposed estimators of θ\theta depend upon X and an independent Wishart matrix S with n degrees of freedom, however, S is singular almost surely when p>n. The proof of domination involves the development of some new unbiased estimators of risk for the p>n setting. We also find some relationships between the amount of domination and the magnitudes of n and p.

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