Uniform estimation and inference for nonparametric partitioning-based M-estimators

This paper presents uniform estimation and inference theory for a large class of nonparametric partitioning-based M-estimators. The main theoretical results include: (i) uniform consistency for convex and nonconvex objective functions; (ii) rate-optimal uniform Bahadur representations; (iii) rate-optimal uniform (and mean square) convergence rates; (iv) valid strong approximations and feasible uniform inference methods; and (v) extensions to functional transformations of underlying estimators. Uniformity is established over both the evaluation point of the nonparametric functional parameter and a Euclidean parameter indexing the class of loss functions. The results also account explicitly for the smoothness degree of the loss function (if any), and allow for a possibly nonidentity (inverse) link function. We illustrate the theoretical and methodological results in four examples: quantile regression, distribution regression, Lp regression, and logistic regression. Many other possibly nonsmooth, nonlinear, generalized, robust M-estimation settings are covered by our results. We provide detailed comparisons with the existing literature and demonstrate substantive improvements: we achieve the best (in some cases optimal) known results under improved (in some cases minimal) requirements in terms of regularity conditions and side rate restrictions. The Supplementary Material reports complementary technical results that may be of independent interest, including a novel uniform strong approximation result based on Yurinskii’s coupling.