Empirical tests of the arbitrage pricing theory using measured variables rely on the accuracy of standard inferential theory in approximating the distribution of the estimated risk premiums and factor betas. The techniques employed thus far perform factor selection and model inference sequentially. Recent advances in Bayesian variable selection are adapted to an approximate factor model to inve...

The study of the asymmetric behavior of macroeconomic variables over the business cycles phases has had a long tradition in economics. In this work we find evidence in favor of the hypothesis of having a STAR-type nonlinear asymmetric behavior of the economic activity, over the last two decades, in three Latin American countries: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. For Chile and Venezuela the null hy...

This paper contributes to the literature by empirically examining whether the influence of public debt on economic growth differs between the short and the long run and presents different patterns across euro-area countries. To this end, we use annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for the 1960-2012 period and estimate a growth ...

In this paper we suggest a number of statistical tests based on neural network models, that are designed to be powerful against structural breaks in otherwise stationary time series processes while allowing for a variety of nonlinear specifications for the dynamic model underlying them. It is clear that in the presence of nonlinearity standard tests of structural breaks for linear models may no...

This article explores the scale and behaviour of abnormal equity returns for 12 regional electricity companies (RECs) in the UK. Using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Kalman Filter, we estimate time variation in abnormal returns (alpha) and in systematic risk (beta) coefficients. Substantial time variation in both returns and risk is demonstrated, with strong evidence of regulato...

This paper investigates the determinants of Polish small firm’s intentions to expand production in the context of possible economic expansion on accession to the EU. Using a non-linear specification a model is developed using twenty-seven explanatory variables derived from a questionnaire given to Polish small firms in late 1999 asking about their motivations in expanding production. Seven of t...

Long-run variance estimation can typically be viewed as the problem of estimating the scale of a limiting continuous time Gaussian process on the unit interval. A natural benchmark model is given by a sample that consists of equally spaced observations of this limiting process. The paper analyzes the asymptotic robustness of long-run variance estimators to contaminations of this benchmark model...

We propose a tree-structured heterogeneous autoregressive (tree-HAR) process as a simple and parsimonious model for the estimation and prediction of tick-by-tick realized correlations. The model can account for different time and other relevant predictors’ dependent regime shifts in the conditional mean dynamics of the realized correlation series. Testing the model on S&P 500 and 30-year treasu...

In this paper, we propose a minimum LM unit root test that endogenously determines a structural break in intercept and trend. Critical values are provided, and size and power properties are compared to the endogenous one-break unit root test of Zivot and Andrews (1992). Nunes, Newbold, and Kuan (1997) and Lee and Strazicich (2001) previously demonstrated that the Zivot and Andrews test exhibits...

We consider the problem of estimating and testing for multiple breaks in a single equation framework with regressors that are endogenous, i.e., correlated with the errors. First, we show based on standard assumptions about the regressors, instruments and errors that the second stage regression of the instrumental variable procedure involves regressors and errors that satisfy all the assumptions...