Inference and Modeling with Log-concave Distributions

Abstract

Log-concave distributions are an attractive choice for modeling and inference, for several reasons: The class of log-concave distributions contains most of the commonly used parametric distributions and thus is a rich and flexible nonparametric class of distributions. Further, the MLE exists and can be computed with readily available algorithms. Thus, no tuning parameter, such as a bandwidth, is necessary for estimation. Due to these attractive properties, there has been considerable recent research activity concerning the theory and applications of log-concave distributions. This article gives a review of these results.