Nonparametric inference on non-negative dissimilarity measures at the boundary of the parameter space

Abstract: It is often of interest to assess whether a function-valued statistical parameter, such as a density function or a mean regression function, is equal to any function in a class of candidate null parameters. This can be framed as a statistical inference problem where the target estimand is a scalar measure of dissimilarity between the true function-valued parameter and the closest function among all candidate null values. These estimands are typically defined to be zero when the null holds and positive otherwise. While there is well-established theory and methodology for performing efficient inference when one assumes a parametric model for the function-valued parameter, methods for inference in the nonparametric setting are limited. When the null holds, and the target estimand resides at the boundary of the parameter space, existing nonparametric estimators either achieve a non-standard limiting distribution or a sub-optimal convergence rate, making inference challenging. In this work, we propose a strategy for constructing nonparametric estimators with improved asymptotic performance. Notably, our estimators converge at the parametric rate at the boundary of the parameter space and also achieve a tractable null limiting distribution. As illustrations, we discuss how this framework can be applied to perform inference in nonparametric regression problems, and also to perform nonparametric assessment of stochastic dependence.