An Inconsistent Maximum Likelihood Estimate

Abstract

An example is given of a family of distributions on [— 1, 1] with a continuous one-dimensional parameterization that joins the triangular distribution (when Θ = 0) to the uniform (when Θ = 1), for which the maximum likelihood estimates exist and converge strongly to Θ = 1 as the sample size tends to infinity, whatever be the true value of the parameter. A modification that satisfies Cramér's conditions is also given.