Smoothing the Moment Estimator of the Extreme Value Parameter

Let {X _n be a sequence of i.i.d. random variables whose common distribution F belongs to the domain of attraction of an extreme value law. A semi-parametric estimator of the extreme value parameter is the Dekkers, Einmahl and de Haan 8] moment estimator. Practical use of this estimator requires the problematic choice of a number k=k(n) of upper order statistics and there are few reliable guidelines for this choice. An averaging or smoothing technique is proposed for this estimator yielding a less volatile function of k which in practice aids estimation.