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Tests for Skewness, Kurtosis, and Normality for Time Series Data

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Author Info
Jushan Bai () (Boston College)
Serena Ng () (Boston College)

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Abstract

We present the sampling distributions for the coefficient of skewness, kurtosis, and a joint test of normality for time series observations. In contrast to independent and identically distributed data, the limiting distributions of the statistics are shown to depend on the long run rather than the short-run variance of relevant sample moments. Monte Carlo simulations show that the test statistics for symmetry and normality have good finite sample size and power. However, size distortions render testing for kurtosis almost meaningless except for distributions with thin tails such as the normal distribution. Nevertheless, this general weakness of testing for kurtosis is of little consequence for testing normality. Combining skewness and kurtosis as in Bera and Jarque (1981) is still a useful test of normality provided the limiting variance accounts for the serial correlation in the data.

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File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/WP501.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Boston College Department of Economics in its series Boston College Working Papers in Economics with number 501.

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Length: 18 pages
Date of creation: 15 Jun 2001
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Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:501

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Related research
Keywords: symmetry; kurtosis; normality; Bera-Jarque test;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Hypothesis Testing
C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Caballero, Ricardo J, 1992. "A Fallacy of Composition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1279-92, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Andrews, Donald W K & Monahan, J Christopher, 1992. "An Improved Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(4), pages 953-66, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. J. Bradford De Long & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Are Business Cycles Symmetric?," NBER Working Papers 1444, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. BONTEMPS, Christian & MEDDAHI, Nour, 2002. "Testing Normality : A GMM Approach," Cahiers de recherche 2002-14, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques. [Downloadable!]
  2. Esfandiar Maasoumi & Jeffrey S. Racine, 2008. "A Robust Entropy-Based Test of Asymmetry for Discrete and Continuous Processes," Emory Economics 0806, Department of Economics, Emory University (Atlanta). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Christian Bontemps & Nour Meddahi, 2002. "Testing Normality: A GMM Approach," CIRANO Working Papers 2002s-63, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
  4. McKay, Alisdair & Reis, Ricardo, 2006. "The Brevity and Violence of Contractions and Expansions," CEPR Discussion Papers 5756, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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