Better Confidence Intervals: The Double Bootstrap with No Pivot

The double bootstrap is an important advance in confidence interval generation because it converges faster than the already popular single bootstrap. Yet the usual double bootstrap requires a stable pivot that is not always available, e.g., when estimating flexibilities or substitution elasticities. A recently developed double bootstrap does not require a pivot. A Monte Carlo analysis with the Waugh data finds the double bootstrap achieves nominal coverage whereas the single bootstrap does not. A useful artifice dramatically decreases the computational time of the double bootstrap. Copyright 1998, Oxford University Press.