Efficient estimation for diffusions sampled at high frequency over a fixed time interval

Parametric estimation for diffusion processes is considered for high frequency observations over a fixed time interval. The processes solve stochastic differential equations with an unknown parameter in the diffusion coefficient. We find easily verified conditions on approximate martingale estimating functions under which estimators are consistent, rate optimal, and efficient under high frequency (in-fill) asymptotics. The asymptotic distributions of the estimators are shown to be normal varianc...