Testing for unit roots in the presence of a possible break in trend and non-stationary volatility

Giuseppe Cavaliere, David Harvey, Stephen Leybourne () and Robert Taylor

Discussion Papers from University of Nottingham, Granger Centre for Time Series Econometrics

Abstract: In this paper we analyse the impact of non-stationary volatility on the recently developed unit root tests which allow for a possible break in trend occurring at an unknown point in the sample, considered in Harris, Harvey, Leybourne and Taylor (2009) [HHLT]. HHLT's analysis hinges on a new break fraction estimator which, when a break in trend occurs, is consistent for the true break fraction at rate Op(T^-1). Unlike other available estimators, however, when there is no trend break HHLT's estimator converges to zero at rate Op(T^-1/2). In their analysis HHLT assume the shocks to follow a linear process driven by IID innovations. Our first contribution is to show that HHLT's break fraction estimator retains the same consistency properties as demonstrated by HHLT for the IID case when the innovations display non-stationary behaviour of a quite general form, including, for example, the case of a single break in the volatility of the innovations which may or may not occur at the same time as a break in trend. However, as we subsequently demonstrate, the limiting null distribution of unit root statistics based around this estimator are not pivotal in the presence of non-stationary volatility. Associated Monte Carlo evidence is presented to quantify the impact of a one-time change in volatility on both the asymptotic and finite sample behaviour of such tests. A solution to the identified inference problem is then provided by considering wild bootstrap-based implementations of the HHLT tests, using the trend break estimator from the original sample data. The proposed bootstrap method does not require the practitioner to specify a parametric model for volatility, and is shown to perform very well in practice across a range of models.

Keywords: Unit root tests; quasi difference de-trending; trend break; non-stationary volatility; wild bootstrap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm and nep-ets
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Journal Article: TESTING FOR UNIT ROOTS IN THE PRESENCE OF A POSSIBLE BREAK IN TREND AND NONSTATIONARY VOLATILITY (2011)
Working Paper: Testing for Unit Roots in the Presence of a Possible Break in Trend and Non-Stationary Volatility (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:not:notgts:09/05

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