Modified Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests of stochastic dominance

Abstract: Given independent samples from two univariate distributions, one-sided Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney statistics may be used to conduct rank-based tests of stochastic dominance. We broaden the scope of applicability of such tests by showing that the bootstrap may be used to conduct valid inference in a matched pairs sampling framework permitting dependence between the two samples. Further, we show that a modified bootstrap incorporating an implicit estimate of a contact set may be used to improve power. Numerical simulations indicate that our test using the modified bootstrap effectively controls the null rejection rates and can deliver more or less power than that of the Donald-Hsu test. In the course of establishing our results we obtain a weak approximation to the empirical ordinance dominance curve permitting its population density to diverge to infinity at zero or one at arbitrary rates.