We introduce estimation and test procedures through divergence minimization for models satisfying linear constraints with unknown parameter. Several statistical examples and motivations are given. These procedures extend the empirical likelihood (EL) method and share common features with generalized empirical likelihood (GEL). We treat the problems of existence and characterization of the divergence projections of probability measures on sets of signed finite measures. Our approach allows for a study of the estimates under misspecification. The asymptotic behavior of the proposed estimates are studied using the dual representation of the divergences and the explicit forms of the divergence projections. We discuss the problem of the choice of the divergence under various respects. Also we handle efficiency and robustness properties of minimum divergence estimates. A simulation study shows that the Hellinger divergence enjoys good efficiency and robustness properties.
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