Zusammenfassung:
Well-behaved densities are typically log-convex with heavy tails and log-concave with light ones. We discuss a benchmark for distinguishing between the two cases, based on the observation that large values of a sum X1 + X2 occur as result of a single big jump with heavy tails whereas X1,X2 are of equal order of magnitude in the light-tailed case. The method is based on the ratio X1 - X2/(X1 + X2 ), for which sharp asymptotic results are presented as well as a visual tool for distinguishing between the two cases. The study supplements modern non-parametric density estimation methods where log-concavity plays a main role, as well as heavy-tailed diagnostics such as the mean excess plot.