Testing for coefficient stability of AR(1) model when the null is an integrated or a stationary process

In this paper, we propose a new test for coefficient stability of an AR(1) model against the random coefficient autoregressive model of order 1 neither assuming a stationary nor a non-stationary process under the null hypothesis of a constant coefficient. The proposed test is obtained as a modification of the locally best invariant (LBI) test by Lee [(1998). Coefficient constancy test in a random coefficient autoregressive model. J. Statist. Plann. Inference 74, 93–101]. We examine finite sample properties of the proposed test by Monte Carlo experiments comparing with other existing tests, in particular, the LBI test by McCabe and Tremayne [(1995). Testing a time series for difference stationary. Ann. Statist. 23 (3), 1015–1028], which is for the null of a unit root process against the alternative of a stochastic unit root process.     

A Strongly Consistent Criterion to Decide Between I(1) and I(0) Processes Based on Different Convergence Rates

The usual procedure to determine whether a univariate time series is stationary or first-difference stationary is to perform some unit root test. In this article, an alternative methodology is presented that leads to a strongly consistent two-step criterion to estimate the number of unit roots. The criterion is based on estimating some autoregressive polynomials using regression procedures and exploiting the fact that the nonstationary roots converge at a faster rate than the stationary ones. The proposed procedure requires at most four regressions and is easy to implement. A simulation study demonstrates that it can perform significantly better in practice than the Dickey–Fuller and the generalized least squares (GLS)-detrended Dickey–Fuller tests.     

Consistent testing for non‐correlation of two cointegrated ARMA time series

A consistent approach to the problem of testing non‐correlation between two univariate infinite‐order autoregressive models was proposed by Hong (1996). His test is based on a weighted sum of squares of residual cross‐correlations, with weights depending on a kernel function. In this paper, the author follows Hong's approach to test non‐correlation of two cointegrated (or partially non‐stationary) ARMA time series. The test of Pham, Roy & Cédras (2003) may be seen as a special case of his approach, as it corresponds to the choice of a truncated uniform kernel. The proposed procedure remains valid for testing non‐correlation between two stationary invertible multivariate ARMA time series. The author derives the asymptotic distribution of his test statistics under the null hypothesis and proves that his procedures are consistent. He also studies the level and power of his proposed tests in finite samples through simulation. Finally, he presents an illustration based on real data.     

Multivariate autoregressive time semes modeling: one scalar autoregressive model at-A-time

Multivariate (or interchangeably multichannel) autoregressive (MCAR) modeling of stationary and nonstationary time series data is achieved doing things one channel at-a-time using only scalar computations on instantaneous data. The one channel at-a-time modeling is achieved as an instantaneous response multichannel autoregressive model with orthogonal innovations variance. Conventional MCAR models are expressible as linear algebraic transformations of the instantaneous response orthogonal innovations models. By modeling multichannel time series one channel at-a-time, the problems of modeling multichannel time series are reduced to problems in the modeling of scalar autoregressive time series. The three longstanding time series modeling problems of achieving a relatively parsimonious MCAR representation, of multichannel stationary time series spectral estimation and of the modeling of nonstationary covariance time series are addressed using this paradigm.     

A Comparison of Unit-Root Test Criteria

During the past 15 years, the ordinary least squares estimator and the corresponding pivotal statistic have been widely used for testing the unit-root hypothesis in autoregressive processes. Recently, several new criteria, based on maximum likelihood estimators and weighted symmetric estimators, have been proposed. In this article, we describe several different test criteria. Results from a Monte Carlo study that compares the power of the different criteria indicate that the new tests are more powerful against the stationary alternative. Of the procedures studied, the weighted symmetric estimator and the unconditional maximum likelihood estimator provide the most powerful tests against the stationary alternative. As an illustration, the weekly series of one-month treasury-bill rates is analyzed.     

Testing for the Equality of Two Autoregressive Functions Using Quasi-Residuals

This article discusses the problem of testing the equality of two nonparametric autoregressive functions against one-sided alternatives. The heteroscedastic errors and stationary densities of the two independent strong mixing strictly stationary time series can be possibly different. The article adapts the idea of using sum of quasi-residuals to construct the test and derives its asymptotic null distributions. The article also shows that the test is consistent for general alternatives and obtains its limiting distributions under a sequence of local alternatives. Then a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to study the finite sample level and power behavior of these tests at some alternatives. We also compare the test to an existing lag matched test theoretically and by Monte Carlo experiments.     

A Bayesian method of distinguishing unit root from stationary processes based on panel data models with cross-sectional dependence

In this paper we develop a Bayesian approach to detecting unit roots in autoregressive panel data models. Our method is based on the comparison of stationary autoregressive models with and without individual deterministic trends, to their counterpart models with a unit autoregressive root. This is done under cross-sectional dependence among the error terms of the panel units. Simulation experiments are conducted with the aim to assess the performance of the suggested inferential procedure, as well as to investigate if the Bayesian model comparison approach can distinguish unit root models from stationary autoregressive models under cross-sectional dependence. The approach is applied to real exchange rate series for a panel of the G7 countries and to a panel of US nominal interest rates data.     

On Fan's adaptive Neyman tests for comparing two spectral densities

In this paper, we consider tests for assessing whether two stationary and independent time series have the same spectral densities (or same autocovariance functions). Both frequency domain and time domain test statistics for this purpose are reviewed. The adaptive Neyman tests are then introduced and their performances are investigated. Our tests are adaptive, that is, they are constructed completely by the data and do not involve any unknown smoothing parameters. Simulation studies show that our proposed tests are at least comparable to the current tests in most cases. Furthermore, our tests are much more powerful in some cases, such as against the long orders of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models such as seasonal ARMA series.     

A novel and fast methodology for simultaneous multiple structural break estimation and variable selection for nonstationary time series models

A class of nonstationary time series such as locally stationary time series can be approximately modeled by piecewise stationary autoregressive (PSAR) processes. But the number and locations of the piecewise autoregressive segments, as well as the number of nonzero coefficients in each autoregressive process, are unknown. In this paper, by connecting the multiple structural break detection with a variable selection problem for a linear model with a large number of regression coefficients, a novel and fast methodology utilizing modern penalized model selection is introduced for detecting multiple structural breaks in a PSAR process. It also simultaneously performs variable selection for each autoregressive model and hence the order selection. To further its performance, an algorithm is given, which remains very fast in computation. Numerical results from simulation and a real data example show that the algorithm has excellent empirical performance.     

Tests for Unit-Root versus Threshold Specification With an Application to the Purchasing Power Parity Relationship

We consider modeling the real exchange rate by a stationary three-regime self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model with possibly a unit root in the middle regime. This representation is consistent with purchasing power parity in the presence of trading costs. Our main contribution is to provide statistical tools for testing unit root versus a SETAR. First, we show that a SETAR with a unit root in the middle regime is stationary and mixing under reasonable assumptions. Second, we derive analytically the asymptotic distribution of our unit-root test under the null. Using monthly real exchange rate data, our test rejects the null of unit-root against a threshold process for five European series.     

Frequency Domain Tests of Semiparametric Hypotheses for Locally Stationary Processes

Abstract.  Many time series in applied sciences obey a time-varying spectral structure. In this article, we focus on locally stationary processes and develop tests of the hypothesis that the time-varying spectral density has a semiparametric structure, including the interesting case of a time-varying autoregressive moving-average (tvARMA) model. The test introduced is based on a L ₂ -distance measure of a kernel smoothed version of the local periodogram rescaled by the time-varying spectral density of the estimated semiparametric model. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic under the null hypothesis is derived. As an interesting special case, we focus on the problem of testing for the presence of a tvAR model. A semiparametric bootstrap procedure to approximate more accurately the distribution of the test statistic under the null hypothesis is proposed. Some simulations illustrate the behaviour of our testing methodology in finite sample situations.     

A generalised NGINAR(1) process with inflated‐parameter geometric counting series

In this paper we propose a new stationary first‐order non‐negative integer valued autoregressive process with geometric marginals based on a generalised version of the negative binomial thinning operator. In this manner we obtain another process that we refer to as a generalised stationary integer‐valued autoregressive process of the first order with geometric marginals. This new process will enable one to tackle the problem of overdispersion inherent in the analysis of integer‐valued time series data, and contains the new geometric process as a particular case. In addition various properties of the new process, such as conditional distribution, autocorrelation structure and innovation structure, are derived. We discuss conditional maximum likelihood estimation of the model parameters. We evaluate the performance of the conditional maximum likelihood estimators by a Monte Carlo study. The proposed process is fitted to time series of number of weekly sales (economics) and weekly number of syphilis cases (medicine) illustrating its capabilities in challenging cases of highly overdispersed count data.     

A BINAR(1) time-series model with cross-correlated COM–Poisson innovations

This article proposes a bivariate integer-valued autoregressive time-series model of order 1 (BINAR(1) with COM–Poisson marginals to analyze a pair of non stationary time series of counts. The interrelation between the series is induced by the correlated innovations, while the non stationarity is captured through a common set of time-dependent covariates that influence the count responses. The regression and dependence effects are estimated using generalized quasi-likelihood (GQL) approach. Simulation experiments are performed to assess the performance of the estimation algorithms. The proposed BINAR(1) process is applied to analyze a real-life series of day and night accidents in Mauritius.     

THE BEHAVIOR OF HEGY TESTS FOR QUARTERLY TIME SERIES WITH SEASONAL MEAN SHIFTS

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the behavior of the HEGY statistics for quarterly data, for seasonal autoregressive unit roots, when the analyzed time series is deterministic seasonal stationary but exhibits a change in the seasonal pattern. We analyze also the HEGY test for the nonseasonal unit root. the data generation process being trend stationary too. Our results show that when the break magnitudes are finite, the HEGY test statistics are not asymptotically biased toward the nonrejection of the seasonal and nonseasonal unit root hypotheses. However, the finite sample power properties may be substantially affected, the behavior of the tests depending on the type of the break.     

A Cauchy estimator test for autocorrelation

This article presents a new test for serial correlation in an observed stationary time series. Rather than using the traditional portmanteau tests based on the sample autocorrelation function, we propose a test based on the Cauchy estimator of correlation. A goodness-of-fit statistic for fitted autoregressive moving average models is also derived and the asymptotic distribution of this statistic is quantified. The test can be employed using either this asymptotic distribution or by using Monte-Carlo quantiles. The small sample behaviour is studied via simulation and the Monte-Carlo-based test seems to be more precise. The method is demonstrated on monthly asset returns for Facebook, Incorporated.     

Testing Parameter Constancy in Stationary Vector Autoregressive Models Against Continuous Change

In this article we derive a parameter constancy test of a stationary vector autoregressive model against the hypothesis that the parameters of the model change smoothly over time. A single structural break is contained in this alternative hypothesis as a special case. The test is a generalization of a single-equation test of a similar hypothesis proposed in the literature. An advantage here is that the asymptotic distribution theory is standard. The performance of the tests is compared to that of generalized Chow-tests and found satisfactory in terms of both size and power.     

Testing for a unit root in a stationary ESTAR process

This article develops a statistic for testing the null of a linear unit root process against the alternative of a stationary exponential smooth transition autoregressive model. The asymptotic distribution of the test is shown to be nonstandard but nuisance parameter-free and hence critical values are obtained by simulations. Simulations show that the proposed statistic has considerable power under various data generating scenarios. Applications to real exchange rates also illustrate the ability of our test to reject null of unit root when some of the alternative tests do not.     

Asymptotic Inefficiency of Mean-Correction on Parameter Estimation for a Periodic First-Order Autoregressive Model

A common practice in time series analysis is to fit a centered model to the mean-corrected data set. For stationary autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) processes, as far as the parameter estimation is concerned, fitting an ARMA model without intercepts to the mean-corrected series is asymptotically equivalent to fitting an ARMA model with intercepts to the observed series. We show that, related to the parameter least squares estimation of periodic ARMA models, the second approach can be arbitrarily more efficient than the mean-corrected counterpart. This property is illustrated by means of a periodic first-order autoregressive model. The asymptotic variance of the estimators for both approaches is derived. Moreover, empirical experiments based on simulations investigate the finite sample properties of the estimators.     

Cointegration Detection Using Dynamic Factor Models

A method of information-criterion-based cointegration detection using dynamic factor models is proposed. The results of the data-based and non data-based Monte Carlo simulations suggest that this method is as effective as conventional hypothesis-testing methods. In the proposed method, an observed multivariate time series is described in terms of common stochastic trends plus stationary autoregressive cycles. Then the best model is selected from among alternative models obtained by changing the number of common stochastic trends, on the basis of information criteria. Consequently, the cointegration rank is determined on the basis of the selected model. Two advantages of the proposed method are also discussed.     

Bayesian classification with multivariate autoregressive sources that might have different orders

The main objective of this paper is to develop an exact Bayesian technique that can be used to assign a multivariate time series realization to one of several autoregressive sources, with unknown coefficients and precision, that might have different orders. The foundation of the proposed technique is to develop the posterior mass function of a classification vector, in an easy form, using the conditional likelihood function. A multivariate time series realization is assigned to the multivariate autoregressive source with the largest posterior probability. A simulation study, with uniform prior mass function, is carried out to demonstrate the performance of the proposed technique and to test its adequacy in handling the multivariate classification problems. The analysis of the numerical results supports the adequacy of the proposed technique in solving the classification problems with multivariate autoregressive sources.