Copula-like inference for discrete bivariate distributions with rectangular supports

Abstract

After reviewing a large body of literature on the modeling of bivariate discrete distributions with finite support, Geenens (2020) made a compelling case for the use of I-projections in the sense of Csiszar (1975) as a sound way to attempt to decompose a bivariate probability mass function (p.m.f.) into its two univariate margins and a bivariate p.m.f. with uniform margins playing the role of a discrete copula. From a practical perspective, the necessary I-projections on Fréchet classes can be carried out using the iterative proportional fitting procedure (IPFP), also known as Sinkhorn’s algorithm or matrix scaling in the literature. After providing conditions under which a bivariate p.m.f. can be decomposed in the aforementioned sense, we investigate, for starting bivariate p.m.f.s with rectangular supports, nonparametric and parametric estimation procedures as well as goodness-of-fit tests for the underlying discrete copula. Related asymptotic results are provided and build upon a differentiability result for I-projections on Fréchet classes which can be of independent interest. Theoretical results are complemented by finite-sample experiments and a data example.