Abstract
This paper concerns the problem of estimating the spectral density function in the analysis of stationary time series data. A kernel type estimate is considered, which entails choice of bandwidth. A data-driven bandwidth choice is proposed, and it is obtained by plugging some suitable estimates into the unknown parts of a theoretically optimal choice. A theoretical justification is give for this choice in terms of how far it is from the theoretical optimum. Furthermore, an empirical investigation is done. It shows that the data-driven choice yields a reliable spectrum estimate.