A robust statistical approach to select adequate error distributions for financial returns

In this article, we propose a robust statistical approach to select an appropriate error distribution, in a classical multiplicative heteroscedastic model. In a first step, unlike to the traditional approach, we don't use any GARCH-type estimation of the conditional variance. Instead, we propose to use a recently developed nonparametric procedure (Mercurio and Spokoiny, 2004): the Local Adaptive Volatility Estimation (LAVE). The motivation for using this method is to avoid a possible model misspecification for the conditional variance. In a second step, we suggest a set of estimation and model selection procedures (Berk-Jones tests, kernel density-based selection, censored likelihood score, coverage probability) based on the so-obtained residuals. These methods enable to assess the global fit of a set of distributions as well as to focus on their behavior in the tails, giving us the capacity to map the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate distributions. A bootstrap procedure is provided to compute the rejection regions in this semiparametric context. Finally, we illustrate our methodology throughout a small simulation study and an application on three time series of daily returns (UBS stock returns, BOVESPA returns and EUR/USD exchange rates)