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If $X \sim \text{N}(0, \sigma^2)$ then it is well-known that $X$ and $X^2$ are uncorrelated (i.e., they have zero covariance). There are also certain distributions for which these random variables are independent. However, uncorrelatedness does not hold in general --- it occurs for the normal distribution with zero mean and certain other cases.

What is the general formula for $\mathbb{C}(X,X^2)$ without assuming normality or zero mean? What is the general formula for the corresponding correlation?

Ben
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1 Answers1

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The general form of the covariance depends on the first three moments of the distribution. To facilitate our analysis, we suppose that $X$ has mean $\mu$, variance $\sigma^2$ and skewness $\gamma$. The covariance of interest exists if $\gamma < \infty$ and does not exist otherwise. Using the relationship between the raw moments and the cumulants, you have the general expression:

$$\begin{equation} \begin{aligned} \mathbb{C}(X,X^2) &= \mathbb{E}(X^3) - \mathbb{E}(X) \mathbb{E}(X^2) \\[6pt] &= ( \mu^3 + 3 \mu \sigma^2 + \gamma \sigma^3 ) - \mu ( \mu^2 + \sigma^2 ) \\[6pt] &= 2 \mu \sigma^2 + \gamma \sigma^3. \\[6pt] \end{aligned} \end{equation}$$

The special case for an unskewed distribution with zero mean (e.g., the centred normal distribution) occurs when $\mu = 0$ and $\gamma = 0$, which gives zero covariance. Note that the absence of covariance occurs for any unskewed centred distribution, though independence holds for certain particular distributions.


Extension to correlation: If we further assume that $X$ has finite kurtosis $\kappa$ then using this variance result it can be shown that:

$$\mathbb{V}(X) = \sigma^2 \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \mathbb{V}(X^2) = 4 \mu^2 \sigma^2 + 4 \mu \gamma \sigma^3 + (\kappa-1) \sigma^4.$$

It then follows that:

$$\begin{align} \mathbb{Corr}(X,X^2) &= \frac{\mathbb{Cov}(X,X^2)}{\sqrt{\mathbb{V}(X) \mathbb{V}(X^2)}} \\[6pt] &= \frac{2 \mu \sigma^2 + \gamma \sigma^3}{\sqrt{\sigma^2 \cdot (4 \mu^2 \sigma^2 + 4 \mu \gamma \sigma^3 + (\kappa-1) \sigma^4)}} \\[6pt] &= \frac{2 \mu + \gamma \sigma}{\sqrt{4 \mu^2 + 4 \mu \gamma \sigma + (\kappa-1) \sigma^2}}. \\[6pt] \end{align}$$

For the special case of a random variable with zero mean we have $\mu=0$ which then gives:

$$\mathbb{Corr}(X,X^2) = \frac{\gamma}{\sqrt{\kappa-1}},$$

which is the scale-adjusted skewness parameter.

Ben
  • 124,856
  • I probably missed the part on the Wikipedia link you provide, but can you remind me of what $\sigma^{\bf 3}$ represents, and how to get the expression $k_3 = \gamma \sigma^3$? – Antoni Parellada Jun 15 '22 at 18:02
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    @AntoniParellada: Here $\sigma^2$ is the variance, so $\sigma^3 = (\sigma^2)^{3/2}$ is the variance to the power $3/2$. The expression you give uses notation that is not in the post, but it appears to be giving the relationship between the skewness and the third central moment (see e.g., definition of skewness). – Ben Jun 15 '22 at 18:24
  • In terms of the notation, $k_3=\gamma \sigma^3$ comes from my assumption that $\gamma \sigma^3$ has to be the expression of the third cumulant. – Antoni Parellada Jun 15 '22 at 19:15
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    Well, the skewness is defined as $\gamma \equiv \mathbb{E}((\tfrac{X-\mu}{\sigma})^3)$, so you then have $\gamma \sigma^3 = \mathbb{E}((X-\mu)^3) \equiv k_3$. – Ben Jun 15 '22 at 19:18
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    Independence occurs when we have a degenerate distribution (an interesting case of your covariance equation since we can have $\text{cov}(X,X^2)=0$ even when $\mu\neq0$ because now $\sigma =0$), or when we have a scaled Rademacher distribution with $p=0.5$. – Sextus Empiricus Feb 13 '23 at 10:58