[Math] Sample Geometric Mean as an estimator for a Gamma Distribution

parameter estimationstatistics

How does one compute the bias for the estimator given by the sample geometric mean for a gamma distribution with parameters ($\theta$,1)?

i.e:
Given $X_1,…,X_n$ are iid with distribution Gamma($\theta$,1), what is the bias of the estimator given by: $$\hat\theta = \left(\prod_{i=1}^n X_i\right)^{1/n}$$

I have that $\mathbb{B}(\hat\theta) = \prod_{i=1}^n \mathbb{E}\left[X_i^{1/n}\right] – \theta$. Evaluating this gives an awful expression littered with gamma functions. Have I made any mistakes here?

Best Answer

For a $\Gamma(k,\lambda)$ you have to count the integral:

$$\int_0^\infty \frac {X^{k-1+1/n}e^{-\lambda X}\lambda^k}{\Gamma(k)}dX$$

All we need is to multiply and divide the fraction by $\lambda^{1/n-1}$

$$\frac{1}{\lambda^{1/n}}\int_0^\infty \frac {(X\lambda)^{k+1/n-1}e^{-\lambda X}}{\Gamma(k)}d\lambda X$$

Which is

$$\frac {\Gamma(k+1/n)}{\lambda^{1/n}\Gamma(k)}$$

So the bias is

$$\left(\frac {\Gamma(k+1/n)}{\lambda^{1/n}\Gamma(k)}\right)^n-\theta$$