Predictive Inference via Kernel Density Estimates

Abstract: Kernel density estimation is a widely used nonparametric approach to estimate an unknown distribution. Recent work in Bayesian predictive inference has considered stochastic processes formed by specifying the predictive distribution for the next data point given all observed data such that the resulting predictive distributions converge weakly almost surely. We study two kernel based prediction rules: the classic kernel density estimator, and a recursive version previously introduced for online problems. We show that both processes converge weakly almost surely, which opens the door for new Bayesian interpretations of kernel density estimation. Surprisingly, the process based on the classic kernel density estimates converges to a compactly supported measure, while the recursive version converges to a non-compactly supported measure.