Risk-efficient nonparametric sequential estimators

Summary Letx ₁,x ₂,x ₃, ... be a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables andτ an estimable parameter of their distribution. We want to estimateτ by the correspondingU-statisticu _n with loss function (u _n −τ)² +cn. We derive a stopping time and prove its risk-efficiency in the sense of Starr (1966) without any assumption on the nature of the distribution function other than the existence of some moments. Research supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Sonderforschungsbereich 72, at the Universit?t Bonn.