On the asymptotic distribution of the mean absolute deviation about the mean

Abstract

The mean absolute deviation about the mean is an alternative to the standard deviation for measuring dispersion in a sample or in a population. For stationary, ergodic time series with a finite first moment, an asymptotic expansion for the sample mean absolute deviation is proposed. The expansion yields the asymptotic distribution of the sample mean absolute deviation under a wide range of settings, allowing for serial dependence or an infinite second moment.