Semiparametric estimation for stationary processes whose spectra have an unknown pole

Abstract

We consider the estimation of the location of the pole and memory parameter, \lambda ^0 and \alpha, respectively, of covariance stationary linear processes whose spectral density function f(\lambda) satisfies f(\lambda)\sim C| \lambda -\lambda ^0| ^{-\alpha} in a neighborhood of \lambda ^0. We define a consistent estimator of \lambda ^0 and derive its limit distribution Z_{\lambda ^0}. As in related optimization problems, when the true parameter value can lie on the boundary of the parameter space, we show that Z_{\lambda ^0} is distributed as a normal random variable when \lambda ^0\in (0,\pi), whereas for \lambda ^0=0 or \pi, Z_{\lambda ^0} is a mixture of discrete and continuous random variables with weights equal to 1/2. More specifically, when \lambda ^0=0, Z_{\lambda ^0} is distributed as a normal random variable truncated at zero. Moreover, we describe and examine a two-step estimator of the memory parameter \alpha, showing that neither its limit distribution nor its rate of convergence is affected by the estimation of \lambda ^0. Thus, we reinforce and extend previous results with respect to the estimation of \alpha when \lambda ^0 is assumed to be known a priori. A small Monte Carlo study is included to illustrate the finite sample performance of our estimators.