A universal robustification procedure

Abstract

We develop a procedure that transforms any asymptotically normal estimator into an asymptotically normal estimator whose distribution is robust to arbitrary data contamination. More generally, our procedure transforms any estimator whose asymptotic distribution has positive and continuous density at the origin into an asymptotically normal estimator whose distribution is robust to arbitrary contamination. In developing such a procedure we prove new general properties of componentwise and geometric quantiles in both finite and infinite dimensions.