The Kendall and Spearman rank correlations of the bivariate skew normal distribution

We derive the Kendall and Spearman rank correlation coefficients of the bivariate skew normal (SN) distribution. For a given correlation parameter, we provide conditions on the shape parameters, under which the SN is more dependent than the normal in terms of each of the two‐rank correlations. We further show how our results can be used for rank‐based estimation procedures of the correlation parameter and the equal shape parameter of the SN, whose consistency and asymptotic normality we establish.