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On the Futility of Testing the Error Term Assumptions in a Spurious Regression

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Author Info
David E. A. Giles () (Department of Economics, University of Victoria)

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Abstract

A spurious regression model is one in which the dependent and independent variables are non-stationary, but not cointegrated, and the data are not filtered (e.g., by differencing) before the model is estimated. It is well known that in this case the asymptotic behaviour of the least squares parameter estimates, their "t-ratios", the Durbin-Watson statistic and the R-squared, are all non-standard. In particular, the parameter estimates and R-squared converge weakly to functionals of standard Brownian motions; the "t-ratios" diverge in distribution; and the Durbin-Watson statistic converges in probability to zero. In this paper we show that similar results apply to other common tests of a spurious regression model's specification. In particular, standard tests of the Normality and homoskedasticity of the error term are doomed to always reject the null hypotheses, asymptotically. These results further reinforce the need to avoid the estimation of spurious regressions.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of Victoria in its series Econometrics Working Papers with number 0203.

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Length: 21 pages
Date of creation: 29 May 2002
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Handle: RePEc:vic:vicewp:0203

Note: ISSN 1485-6441
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Related research
Keywords: Spurious regression; normality; homoskedasticity; asymptotic theory; unit roots;

Other versions of this item:

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
C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation and Testing

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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. Phillips, P.C.B., 1986. "Understanding spurious regressions in econometrics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 311-340, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Plosser, Charles I. & Schwert*, G. William, 1978. "Money, income, and sunspots: Measuring economic relationships and the effects of differencing," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 637-660, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Granger, C. W. J. & Newbold, P., 1974. "Spurious regressions in econometrics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 111-120, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and Its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(1), pages 239-53, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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