Bootstrap tests of mean-variance efficiency with multiple portfolio groupings

We propose double bootstrap methods to test the mean-variance efficiency hypothesis when multiple portfolio groupings of the test assets are considered jointly rather than individually. A direct test of the joint null hypothesis may not be possible with standard methods when the total number of test assets grows large relative to the number of available time-series observations, since the estimate of the disturbance covariance matrix eventually becomes singular. The suggested residual bootstrap procedures based on combining the individual group p-values avoid this problem while controlling the overall significance level. Simulation and empirical results illustrate the usefulness of the joint mean-variance efficiency tests.