Change-point in stochastic design regression and the bootstrap

Abstract

In this paper we study the consistency of different bootstrap procedures for constructing confidence intervals (CIs) for the unique jump discontinuity (change-point) in an otherwise smooth regression function in a stochastic design setting. This problem exhibits nonstandard asymptotics and we argue that the standard bootstrap procedures in regression fail to provide valid confidence intervals for the change-point. We propose a version of smoothed bootstrap, illustrate its remarkable finite sample performance in our simulation study, and prove the consistency of the procedure. The $m$ out of $n$ bootstrap procedure is also considered and shown to be consistent. We also provide sufficient conditions for any bootstrap procedure to be consistent in this scenario.