IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eca/wpaper/2013-295909.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal tests for elliptical symmetry: specified and unspecified location

Author

Listed:
  • Sladana Babic
  • Laetitia Gelbgras
  • Marc Hallin
  • Christophe Ley

Abstract

Although the assumption of elliptical symmetry is quite common in multivariate analysis and widespread in a number of applications, the problem of testing the null hypothesis of ellipticity so far has not been addressed in a fully satisfactory way. Most of the literature in the area indeed addresses the null hypothesis of elliptical symmetry with specified location and actually addresses location rather than non-elliptical alternatives. In thi spaper, we are proposing new classes of testing procedures,both for specified and unspecified location. The backbone of our construction is Le Cam’s asymptotic theory of statistical experiments, and optimality is to be understood locally and asymptotically within the family of generalized skew-elliptical distributions. The tests we are proposing are meeting all the desired properties of a “good” test of elliptical symmetry:they have a simple asymptotic distribution under the entire null hypothesis of elliptical symmetry with unspecified radial density and shape parameter; they are affine-invariant, computationally fast, intuitively understandable, and not too demanding in terms of moments. While achieving optimality against generalized skew-elliptical alternatives, they remain quite powerful under a much broader class of non-elliptical distributions and significantly outperform the available competitors

Suggested Citation

  • Sladana Babic & Laetitia Gelbgras & Marc Hallin & Christophe Ley, 2019. "Optimal tests for elliptical symmetry: specified and unspecified location," Working Papers ECARES 2019-26, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  • Handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/295909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/295909/3/2019-26-BABIC_GELDGRAS_HALLIN_LEY-optimal.pdf
    File Function: Full text for the whole work, or for a work part
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Swensen, Anders Rygh, 1985. "The asymptotic distribution of the likelihood ratio for autoregressive time series with a regression trend," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 54-70, February.
    2. repec:ulb:ulbeco:2013/127941 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Hallin, Marc & Paindaveine, Davy, 2005. "Affine-invariant aligned rank tests for the multivariate general linear model with VARMA errors," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 122-163, March.
    4. Huffer, Fred W. & Park, Cheolyong, 2007. "A test for elliptical symmetry," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 256-281, February.
    5. Schott, James R., 2002. "Testing for elliptical symmetry in covariance-matrix-based analyses," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 395-404, December.
    6. M. C. Jones & Arthur Pewsey, 2009. "Sinh-arcsinh distributions," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 96(4), pages 761-780.
    7. Bernard Garel & Marc Hallin, 1995. "Local asymptotic normality of multivariate ARMA processes with a linear trend," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 47(3), pages 551-579, September.
    8. Marc Hallin & Davy Paindaveine & Thomas Verdebout, 2009. "Optimal rank-based testing for principal component," Working Papers ECARES 2009_013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. repec:eca:wpaper:2013/128686 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Keith Vorkink & Douglas J. Hodgson & Oliver Linton, 2002. "Testing the capital asset pricing model efficiently under elliptical symmetry: a semiparametric approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 617-639.
    11. Marc Genton & Nicola Loperfido, 2005. "Generalized skew-elliptical distributions and their quadratic forms," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 57(2), pages 389-401, June.
    12. Ley, Christophe & Paindaveine, Davy, 2010. "On the singularity of multivariate skew-symmetric models," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 101(6), pages 1434-1444, July.
    13. A. Azzalini & A. Capitanio, 1999. "Statistical applications of the multivariate skew normal distribution," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 61(3), pages 579-602.
    14. Branco, Márcia D. & Dey, Dipak K., 2001. "A General Class of Multivariate Skew-Elliptical Distributions," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 99-113, October.
    15. Manzotti, A. & Pérez, Francisco J. & Quiroz, Adolfo J., 2002. "A Statistic for Testing the Null Hypothesis of Elliptical Symmetry," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 274-285, May.
    16. Yves Dominicy & Pauliina Ilmonen & David Veredas, 2017. "Multivariate Hill Estimators," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 85(1), pages 108-142, April.
    17. D. Vogel & R. Fried, 2011. "Elliptical graphical modelling," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 98(4), pages 935-951.
    18. Liebscher, Eckhard, 2005. "A semiparametric density estimator based on elliptical distributions," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 205-225, January.
    19. Lombardi, Marco J. & Veredas, David, 2009. "Indirect estimation of elliptical stable distributions," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 2309-2324, April.
    20. Marc Hallin & Davy Paindaveine & Thomas Verdebout, 2010. "Testing for Common Principal Components under Heterokurticity," Journal of Nonparametric Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(7), pages 879-895.
    21. Wraith, Darren & Forbes, Florence, 2015. "Location and scale mixtures of Gaussians with flexible tail behaviour: Properties, inference and application to multivariate clustering," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 61-73.
    22. Rainer Dyckerhoff & Christophe Ley & Davy Paindaveine, 2014. "Depth-Based Runs Tests for bivariate Central Symmetry," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2014-03, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    23. Rainer Dyckerhoff & Christophe Ley & Davy Paindaveine, 2015. "Depth-based runs tests for bivariate central symmetry," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 67(5), pages 917-941, October.
    24. Adelchi Azzalini & Antonella Capitanio, 2003. "Distributions generated by perturbation of symmetry with emphasis on a multivariate skew t‐distribution," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 65(2), pages 367-389, May.
    25. Marc Hallin & Davy Paindaveine & Thomas Verdebout, 2011. "Optimal Rank-Based Tests for Common Principal Components," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2011-032, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    26. Hallin, Marc & Paindaveine, Davy, 2009. "Optimal tests for homogeneity of covariance, scale, and shape," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 422-444, March.
    27. Sakhanenko, Lyudmila, 2008. "Testing for ellipsoidal symmetry: A comparison study," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 565-581, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mondal, Sagnik & Genton, Marc G., 2024. "A multivariate skew-normal-Tukey-h distribution," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    2. Kahrari, F. & Rezaei, M. & Yousefzadeh, F. & Arellano-Valle, R.B., 2016. "On the multivariate skew-normal-Cauchy distribution," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 80-88.
    3. Lee, Sharon X. & McLachlan, Geoffrey J., 2022. "An overview of skew distributions in model-based clustering," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    4. Shushi, Tomer, 2018. "A proof for the existence of multivariate singular generalized skew-elliptical density functions," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 50-55.
    5. Zinoviy Landsman & Udi Makov & Tomer Shushi, 2017. "Extended Generalized Skew-Elliptical Distributions and their Moments," Sankhya A: The Indian Journal of Statistics, Springer;Indian Statistical Institute, vol. 79(1), pages 76-100, February.
    6. Yin, Chuancun & Balakrishnan, Narayanaswamy, 2024. "Stochastic representations and probabilistic characteristics of multivariate skew-elliptical distributions," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    7. Adelchi Azzalini, 2012. "Selection models under generalized symmetry settings," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 64(4), pages 737-750, August.
    8. Abe, Toshihiro & Fujisawa, Hironori & Kawashima, Takayuki & Ley, Christophe, 2021. "EM algorithm using overparameterization for the multivariate skew-normal distribution," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 151-168.
    9. Antonio Canale & Euloge Clovis Kenne Pagui & Bruno Scarpa, 2016. "Bayesian modeling of university first-year students' grades after placement test," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(16), pages 3015-3029, December.
    10. Jorge M. Arevalillo & Hilario Navarro, 2019. "A stochastic ordering based on the canonical transformation of skew-normal vectors," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 28(2), pages 475-498, June.
    11. Hok Shing Kwong & Saralees Nadarajah, 2022. "A New Robust Class of Skew Elliptical Distributions," Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1669-1691, September.
    12. Hallin, M. & Werker, B.J.M. & van den Akker, R., 2015. "Optimal Pseudo-Gaussian and Rank-based Tests of the Cointegration Rank in Semiparametric Error-correction Models," Discussion Paper 2015-001, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    13. Ley, Christophe & Paindaveine, Davy, 2010. "On the singularity of multivariate skew-symmetric models," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 101(6), pages 1434-1444, July.
    14. Thomas J. DiCiccio & Anna Clara Monti, 2018. "Testing for sub-models of the skew t-distribution," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 27(1), pages 25-44, March.
    15. Francq, C. & Jiménez-Gamero, M.D. & Meintanis, S.G., 2017. "Tests for conditional ellipticity in multivariate GARCH models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 305-319.
    16. Sreenivasa Rao Jammalamadaka & Emanuele Taufer & Gyorgy H. Terdik, 2021. "On Multivariate Skewness and Kurtosis," Sankhya A: The Indian Journal of Statistics, Springer;Indian Statistical Institute, vol. 83(2), pages 607-644, August.
    17. Christophe Ley & Davy Paindaveine, 2010. "On Fisher information matrices and profile log-likelihood functions in generalized skew-elliptical models," Metron - International Journal of Statistics, Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilità e Statistiche Applicate - University of Rome, vol. 0(3), pages 235-250.
    18. V. G. Cancho & Reiko Aoki & V. H. Lachos, 2008. "Bayesian analysis for a skew extension of the multivariate null intercept measurement error model," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(11), pages 1239-1251.
    19. Hallin, Marc & van den Akker, Ramon & Werker, Bas J.M., 2016. "Semiparametric error-correction models for cointegration with trends: Pseudo-Gaussian and optimal rank-based tests of the cointegration rank," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 190(1), pages 46-61.
    20. Ley, Christophe, 2023. "When the score function is the identity function - A tale of characterizations of the normal distribution," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 153-160.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/295909. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/arulbbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.