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Goodness-of-fit tests for the Pareto distribution based on its characterization

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Abstract

A new characterization of the Pareto distribution is proposed, and new goodness-of-fit tests based on it are constructed. Test statistics are functionals of U-empirical processes. The first of these statistics is of integral type, it is similar to the classical statistics \(\omega _n^1\). The second one is a Kolmogorov type statistic. We show that the kernels of our statistics are non-degenerate. The limiting distribution and large deviations asymptotics of the new statistics under null hypothesis are described. Their local Bahadur efficiency for parametric alternatives is calculated. This type of efficiency is mostly appropriate for the solution of our problem since the Kolmogorov type statistic is not asymptotically normal, and the Pitman approach is not applicable to this statistic. For the second statistic we evaluate the critical values by using Monte-Carlo methods. Also conditions of local optimality of new statistics in the sense of Bahadur are discussed and examples of such special alternatives are given. For small sample size we compare the power of those tests with some common goodness-of-fit tests.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their deep gratitude to the Referees and the Associate Editor for their useful suggestions for the improvement of the paper.

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Correspondence to Ksenia Volkova.

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Research supported by Grant RFBR No. 13-01-00172, Grant NSh No. 2504.2014.1 and by SPbGU Grant No. 6.38.672.2013.

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Volkova, K. Goodness-of-fit tests for the Pareto distribution based on its characterization. Stat Methods Appl 25, 351–373 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10260-015-0330-y

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