Asymptotic properties of the maximum likelihood estimator for multivariate extreme value distributions

Max-stable distributions and processes are important models for extreme events and the assessment of tail risks. The full, multivariate likelihood of a parametric max-stable distribution is complicated and only recent advances enable its use. The asymptotic properties of the maximum likelihood estimator in multivariate extremes are mostly unknown. In this paper we provide natural conditions on the exponent function and the angular measure of the max-stable distribution that ensure asymptotic normality of the estimator. We show the effectiveness of this result by applying it to popular parametric models in multivariate extreme value statistics and to the most commonly used families of spatial max-stable processes.