Controlling Heterogeneous Structure of Smooth Breaks in Panel Unit Root and Cointegration Testing

Abstract

This study aims to show the consequences of a restrictive homogeneity assumption of frequency in heterogeneous panel unit root and cointegration testing with Flexible Fourier Form. For this purpose, we use a simple panel unit root and residual based cointegration test with Flexible Fourier Form in a heterogeneous frequency setting using a bootstrap algorithm. The power of the test statistics and empirical analysis results indicate that failing to take into account a heterogeneous frequency may lead to misleading inferences, thereby leading to misspecified tests and erroneous conclusions concerning the stochastic behavior of the data in the panel sample.