Robust discrimination between long‐range dependence and a change in mean

In this article we introduce a robust to outliers Wilcoxon change‐point testing procedure, for distinguishing between short‐range dependent time series with a change in mean at unknown time and stationary long‐range dependent time series. We establish the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic under the null hypothesis for L₁ near epoch dependent processes and show its consistency under the alternative. The Wilcoxon‐type testing procedure similarly as the CUSUM‐type testing procedure (of Berkes I., Horváth L., Kokoszka P. and Shao Q. 2006. Ann.Statist. 34:1140–1165), requires estimation of the location of a possible change‐point, and then using pre‐ and post‐break subsamples to discriminate between short and long‐range dependence. A simulation study examines the empirical size and power of the Wilcoxon‐type testing procedure in standard cases and with disturbances by outliers. It shows that in standard cases the Wilcoxon‐type testing procedure behaves equally well as the CUSUM‐type testing procedure but outperforms it in presence of outliers. We also apply both testing procedure to hydrologic data.