Inference in log-alpha-power and log-skew-normal multivariate models

ABSTRACT

Random vectors with positive components are common in many applied fields, for example, in meteorology, when daily precipitation is measured through a region Marchenko and Genton (2010). Frequently, the log-normal multivariate distribution is used for modeling this type of data. This modeling approach is not appropriate for data with high asymmetry or kurtosis. Consequently, more flexible multivariate distributions than the log-normal multivariate are required. As an alternative to this distribution, we propose the log-alpha-power multivariate and log-skew-normal multivariate models. The first model is an extension for positive data of the fractional order statistics model Durrans (1992). The second one is an extension of the log-skew-normal model studied by Mateu-Figueras and Pawlowsky-Glahn (2007). We study parameter estimation for these models by means of pseudo-likelihood and maximum likelihood methods. We illustrate the proposal analyzing a real dataset.

KEYWORDS:

• Log-alpha-power multivariate distribution
• Log-skew multivariate distribution
• Maximum likelihood
• Pseudo maximum likelihood

MATHEMATICS SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION:

• 60E05
• 62F10
• 62H12