Asymptotics of the weighted least squares estimation for AR(1) processes with applications to confidence intervals

For the first-order autoregressive model, we establish the asymptotic theory of the weighted least squares estimations whether the underlying autoregressive process is stationary, unit root, near integrated or even explosive under a weaker moment condition of innovations. The asymptotic limit of this estimator is always normal. It is shown that the empirical log-likelihood ratio at the true parameter converges to the standard chi-square distribution. An empirical likelihood confidence interval is proposed for interval estimations of the autoregressive coefficient. The results improve the corresponding ones of Chan et al. (Econ Theory 28:705–717, 2012). Some simulations are conducted to illustrate the proposed method.