Computationally efficient goodness-of-fit tests for the error distribution in nonparametric regression

Several procedures have been proposed for testing goodness-of-fit to the error distribution in nonparametric regression models. The null distribution of the associated test statistics is usually approximated by means of a parametric bootstrap which, under certain conditions, provides a consistent estimator. This paper considers a goodness-of-fit test whose test statistic is an L2 norm of the difference between the empirical characteristic function of the residuals and a parametric estimate of the characteristic function in the null hypothesis. It is proposed to approximate the null distribution through a weighted bootstrap which also produces a consistent estimator of the null distribution but, from a computational point of view, is more efficient than the parametric bootstrap.