Slow-explosive AR(1) processes converging to random walk

Abstract

This article investigates slow-explosive AR(1) processes, which converge to a random walk (RW) process with logarithm rates, to fill the gap between nearly non-stationary AR(1) and moderately deviated AR(1) processes, and derives the asymptotics of the least squares estimator using central limit theorems for (reduced) U-statistic. We successfully establish the smooth link between the nearly non-stationary AR(1) and the moderately deviated AR(1) processes. Some novel results are reported, which include the convergence of the least squares estimator to a biased fractional Brownian motion.