Robust Mean Estimation for Optimization: The Impact of Heavy Tails
优化中的稳健均值估计:重尾分布的影响
We consider the problem of constructing a least conservative estimator of the expected value $μ$ of a non-negative heavy-tailed random variable. We require that the probability of overestimating the expected value $μ$ is kept appropriately small; a natural requirement if its subsequent use in a decision process is anticipated. In this setting, we show it is optimal to estimate $μ$ by solving a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) problem using the Kullback-Leibler (KL)…