Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2012
This paper studies second-order properties of the empirical likelihood overidentifying restriction test to check the validity of moment condition models. We show that the empirical likelihood test is Bartlett correctable and suggest second-order refinement methods for the test based on the empirical Bartlett correction and adjusted empirical likelihood. Our second-order analysis supplements the one in Chen and Cui (2007, Journal of Econometrics141, 492–516) who considered parameter hypothesis testing for overidentified models. In simulation studies we find that the empirical Bartlett correction and adjusted empirical likelihood assisted by bootstrapping provide reasonable improvements for the properties of the null rejection probabilities.
The authors would like to thank a co-editor, two anonymous referees, and the seminar participants at Hiroshima University and University of Tokyo and Tsukuba for helpful comments.