Sequential procedures for aggregating arbitrary estimators of a conditional mean

In this correspondence, a sequential procedure for aggregating linear combinations of a finite family of regression estimates is described and analyzed. Particular attention is given to linear combinations having coefficients in the generalized simplex. The procedure is based on exponential weighting, and has a computationally tractable approximation. Analysis of the procedure is based in part on techniques from the sequential prediction of nonrandom sequences. Here these techniques are applied in a stochastic setting to obtain cumulative loss bounds for the aggregation procedure. From the cumulative loss bounds we derive an oracle inequality for the aggregate estimator for an unbounded response having a suitable moment-generating function. The inequality shows that the risk of the aggregate estimator is less than the risk of the best candidate linear combination in the generalized simplex, plus a complexity term that depends on the size of the coefficient set. The inequality readily yields convergence rates for aggregation over the unit simplex that are within logarithmic factors of known minimax bounds. Some preliminary results on model selection are also presented.