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Cramér's theorem states that the means of independent and identically distributed random variables in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ satisfy a large deviation principle at large-deviation speed $n$, with good rate function equal to the Legendre-Fenchel transform of their cumulant-generating function, provided the moment-generating function is finite on a neighborhood of zero.

Here the exponential distribution hasFor $x>0$, maximize $\theta x-\Lambda (\theta )$. Its derivative is $x-(\lambda -\theta {)}^{-1}$ and its second derivative is negative, so the maximizing parameter is ${\theta }_x=\lambda -x^{-1}$. Therefore the rate function of an exponential sample mean isFor $x\le 0$, letting $\theta \to -\infty$ in the same supremum gives $+\infty$, including the logarithmic divergence when $x=0$. The moment-generating function is finite near zero, so Cramér's theorem supplies the full large deviation principle.

The rate function is nonnegative, with its unique minimum at $\mu ={\lambda }^{-1}$; $I^{\prime \prime }(x)=x^{-2}>0$. It tends to infinity both as $x\downarrow 0$ and as $x\to \infty$. Its finite sublevel sets are closed bounded intervals contained in $(0,\infty )$, hence compact. Thus it is a good rate function.