On consistent testing for serial correlation in seasonal time series models

The author considers serial correlation testing in seasonal time series models. He proposes a test statistic based on a spectral approach. Many tests of this type rely on kernel-based spectral density estimators that assign larger weights to low order lags than to high ones. Under seasonality, however, large autocorrelations may occur at seasonal lags that classical kernel estimators cannot take into account. The author thus proposes a test statistic that relies on the spectral density estimator of Shin (2004), whose weighting scheme is more adapted to this context. The distribution of his test statistic is derived under the null hypothesis and he studies its behaviour under fixed and local alternatives. He establishes the consistency of the test under a general fixed alternative. He also makes recommendations for the choice of the smoothing parameters. His simulation results suggest that his test is more powerful against seasonality than alternative procedures based on classical weighting schemes. He illustrates his procedure with monthly statistics on employment among young Americans.