SPECIFICATION TEST FOR MISSING FUNCTIONAL DATA

Economic data are frequently generated by stochastic processes that can be modeled as realizations of random functions (functional data). This paper adapts the specification test for functional data developed by Bugni, Hall, Horowitz, and Neumann (<xref>2009</xref>, <italic>Econometrics Journal</italic>12, S1–S18) to the presence of missing observations. By using a worst case scenario approach, our method is able to extract the information available in the observed portion of the data while being agnostic about the nature of the missing observations. The presence of missing data implies that our test will not only result in the rejection or lack of rejection of the null hypothesis, but it may also be inconclusive.