Estimation of mixing proportions via distance between characteristic functions

The weighted and integrated squared error between the sample characteristic function and the assumed characteristic function is shown to be an effective procedure for estimation of mixing proportions. For a particular form of the weighting, this procedure is equivalent to that of minimization with respect to the mixing proportions of the integrated squared error between a density and its kernel estimate. The efficiency, mean squared error, and ease of computation properties of this procedure are compared against those of several competitors.