Seasonal Integration and Cointegration": of Aarhus, DK-00 Aurhus, Denmurk
Seasonal Integration and Cointegration": of Aarhus, DK-00 Aurhus, Denmurk
North-Holland
S. HYLLEBERG
Ur~ic~rsi&
of Aarhus, DK-00 Aurhus, Denmurk
B.S. YOO
Pe~~r~s$w~~iuState University, fJniuersi<v Park, PA, USA
This paper develops tests for roots in linear time series which have a modulus of one but which
correspond to seasonal frequencies. Critical values for the tests are generated by Monte Carlo
methods or are shown to be available from Dickey-Fuller or Dickey-Hasza-Fuller critical values.
Representations for multivariate processes with combinations of seasonal and zero-frequency unit
roots are developed leading to a variety of autoregressive and error-correction representations,
The techniques are used to examine cointegration at different frequencies between consumption
and income in the U.K.
1. Introduction
The rapidly developing time-series analysis of models with unit roots has
had a major impact on econometric practice and on our understanding of the
response of economic systems to shocks. Univariate tests for unit roots were
first proposed by Fuller (1976) and Dickey and Fuller (1979) and were applied
to a range of macroeconomic data by Nelson and Plosser (1982). Granger
(1981) proposed the concept of cointegration which recognized that even
though several series all had unit roots, a linear combination could exist which
would not. Engle and Granger (1987) present a theorem giving several repre-
sentations of cointegrated series and tests and estimation procedures. The
testing is a direct generalization of Dickey and Fuller to the hypothesized
linear combination.
All of this work assumes that the root of interest not only has a modulus of
one, but is precisely one. Such a root corresponds to a zero-frequency peak in
*The research was carried out while the first author was on sabbatical at UCSD and the last
author was completing his dissertation. The authors are indebted to the University of Aarhus,
NSF SESg7-05884, and SESW-04669 for financial sunnort. The data will be made available
through the Inter-university Consortium for Political add Social Research at the University of
Michigan.
the spectrum. Furthermore, it assumes that there are no other unit roots in the
system. Because many economic time series exhibit substantial seasonality.
there is a definite possibility that there may be unit roots at other frequencies
such as the seasonals. In fact, Box and Jenkins (1970) and the many time-series
analysts influenced by their work implicitly assume that there are seasonal unit
roots by using the seasonal differencing filter.
This paper describes in section 2 various classes of seasonal processes and in
section 3 sets out to test for seasonal unit roots in time-series data both in the
presence of other unit roots and other seasonal processes. Section 4 defines
seasonal cointegration and derives several representations. Section 5 gives an
empirical example and section 6 concludes.
Notice that this process can be perfectly forecast and will never change its
shape.
S. Ffvlieherg et al., Seasonal integration and cointegruiion 21-l
with all of the roots of q(B) = 0 lying outside the unit circle but where some
are complex pairs with seasonal periodicities. More precisely, the spectrum of
such a process is given by
x, = p-4 + Et.
which has a peak at both the seasonal periodicities 7r/2 (one cycle per year)
and 7~ (two cycles per year) as well as at zero frequency (zero cycles per year).
A series x, is an integrated seasonal process if it has a seasonal unit root in
its autoregressive representation. More generally it is integrated of order d at
frequency 8 if the spectrum of x, takes the form
x, - Md).
The paper will concentrate on the case d = 1. An example of an integrated
quarterly process at two cycles per year is
which therefore has four roots with modulus one: one is a zero frequency, one
at two cycles per year, and two complex pairs at one cycle per year.
The properties of seasonally integrated series are not immediately obvious
but are quite similar to the properties of ordinary integrated processes as
established for example by Fuller (1976). In particular they have ‘long
memory’ so that shocks last forever and may in fact change permanently the
seasonal patterns. They have variances which increase linearly since the start
of the series and are asymptotically uncorrelated with processes with other
frequency unit roots.
The generating mechanisms being considered, such as (2.2) or (2.4) are
stochastic difference equations. They generalize the ordinary 1(l), or Z,(l) in
the present notation, process. It is well known that an equation of the form
(1 -B)x,=q (2.5)
has two components to its solution: the homogeneous solution xlr where
(1 - B)x,, = 0
Thus xt = xlt + x2,, where xir = x,, (the starting value) and xZI = xiL$_j.
Clearly, if E[E~] = m f 0, then xZt will contain a linear trend mt.
The equation with S(B) = (1 + B)(l + B2),
S(B)x,=e,, (2.6)
where ci, c2, c3 are determined from the starting conditions, plus the require-
ment that xlr is a real series, i.e., c2 and cg are complex conjugates. If
x-2 = x- t=xO=O so that th e starting values contain no seasonal, then
X 1* = 0.
where A = 1 - B and int[z] is the largest integer in z. The two parts of this
solution correspond to the two seasonal roots and to eqs. (2.2) and (2.3).
The homogeneous solutions to eqs. (2.9, (2.2) and (2.3) are given, respec-
tively, by
,--I
Slf =
, =o
c %/ for zero-frequency root,
r-l
szt= c (-l>G_j for the two-cycle-per-year root,
/=0
int[( f - I J/2]
so that all of the unit roots have the property that the variance tends to infinity
as the process evolves. When the series are excited by the same {E*} and t is
divisable by four, the covariances are all zero. At other values of t the
covariances are at most u2, so the series are asymptotically uncorrelated as
well as being uncorrelated in finite samples for complete years of data.
It should be noted that, if E[E~] = m # 0, all t, then the first term in x2t will
involve an oscillation of period 2. The complete solution to (2.6) contains both
cyclical deterministic terms, corresponding to ‘seasonal dummies’ plus long
nondeclining sums of past innovations or their changes. Thus, a series gener-
ated by (2.6) will have a component that is seasonally integrated and may also
have a deterministic seasonal component, largely depending on the starting
values. A series generated by (2.6) will be inclined to have a seasonal with peak
that varies slowly through time, but if the initial deterministic component is
large, it may not appear to drift very fast.
220 S. lf~~lleherg et al., Seasonul integrution und cointegrutim
If X, is generated by
4B)4B)(x,-P*)=~,, (2.8)
where all the roots of a(z) = 0 lie outside the unit circle, all the roots of
d(z) = 0 lie on the unit circle, and pLtis given as above. Stationary seasonality
and other stationary components of x are absorbed into a(B), while determin-
istic seasonality is in pr when there are no seasonal unit roots in d(B). Section
3 of this paper considers how to test for seasonal unit roots and zero-frequency
unit roots when other unit roots are possibly present and when deterministic
or stochastic seasonals may be present.
A pair of series each of which are integrated at frequency w are said to be
cointegrated at that frequency if a linear combination of the series is not
integrated at w. If the linear combination is labeled LX,then we use the
notation
This will occur if, for example, each of the series contains the same factor
which is 1,(l). In particular, if
where v, is Iw(l) and X, and Y, are not, then z, = X, - ayr is not 1,(l),
although it could be still integrated at other frequencies. If a group of series
are cointegrated, there are implications about their joint generating mecha-
nism. These are considered in section 4 of this paper.
In the literature there exist a few attempts to develop such tests. Dickey,
Hasza, and Fuller (1984), following the lead suggested by Dickey and Fuller
for the zero-frequency unit-root case, propose a test of the hypothesis u = 1
against the alternative a < 1 in the model x, = a~,_~ + a,. The asymptotic
distribution of the least-squares estimator is found and the small-sample
distribution obtained for several values of s by Monte Carlo methods. In
addition the test is extended to the case of higher-order stationary dynamics.
A major drawback of this test is that it doesn’t allow for unit roots at some but
not all of the seasonal frequencies and that the alternative has a very particular
form, namely that all the roots have the same modulus. Exactly the same
problems are encountered by the tests proposed by Bhargava (1987). In Ahtola
and Tiao (1987) tests are proposed for the case of complex roots in the
quarterly case but also their suggestion may at best be a part of a more
comprehensive test strategy. In this paper we propose a test and a general
framework for a test strategy that looks at unit roots at all the seasonal
frequencies as well as the zero frequency. The test follows the Dickey-Fuller
framework and in fact has a well-known distribution possibly on transformed
variables in some special cases.
For quarterly data, the polynomial (1 - B4) can be expressed as
polynomial, and
S,(B) = 1 - ;B,
k
which always exists since all the roots of the 6’s are distinct and the
polynomial is bounded at each value by assumption. The polynomial
‘dB) - c &A(B)/&(B)
x=1
=dB) - 2 Qde,)n 6j(B)/S,(e,)
k=l j#h
will have zeroes at each point B = bJk.Thus it can be written as the product of
a polynomial, say cp**( B), and A(B). QED
+ cp*(B)(l - B4).
S. EQNeherg et al., Seusonul integrution und mintegrution 223
The testing strategy is now apparent. The data are assumed to be generated
by a general autoregression
T(B)X,=E,, (3.5)
where
y2, = - (1 - B + B2 - B3)x,,
Eq. (3.6) can be estimated by ordinary least squares, possibly with additional
lags of y, to whiten the errors. To test the hypothesis that cp(B,) = 0, where 8,
is either 1, - 1, or + i, one needs simply to test that A, is zero. For the root 1
this is simply a test for 7r1= 0, and for - 1 it is r2 = 0. For the complex roots
X, will have absolute value of zero only if both V~ and r4 equal zero which
suggests a joint test. There will be no seasonal unit roots if r~* and either r3 or
rr4 are different from zero, which therefore requires the rejection of both a test
for 7r2 and a joint test for r3 and r4. To find that a series has no unit roots at
all and is therefore stationary, we must establish that each of the r’s is
different from zero (save possibly either n3 or r4). A joint test will not deliver
the required evidence.
The natural alternative for these tests is stationarity. For example, the
alternative to ~(1) = 0 should be ~(1) > 0 which means r1 < 0. Similarly, the
stationary alternative to cp( - 1) = 0 is ‘p( - 1) > 0 which corresponds to r2 < 0.
224 S. f~vlleherg et al., Seusonal integrution and cointegrutron
Finally, the alternative to lq( i)l = 0 is Iv(i)1 > 0. Since the null is two-dimen-
sional, it is simplest to compute an F-type of statistic for the joint null,
rrs = n, = 0, against the alternative that they are not both equal to zero. An
alternative strategy is to compute a two-sided test of “4 = 0, and if this is
accepted, continue with a one-sided test of r3 = 0 against the alternative
7s < 0. If we restrict our attention to alternatives where it is assumed that
r4 = 0, a one-sided test for 7~s would be appropriate with rejection for 7r3< 0.
Potentially this could lack power if the first-step assumption is not warranted.
In the more complex setting where the alternative includes the possibility of
deterministic components it is necessary to allow pr f 0. The testable model
becomes
which can again be estimated by OLS and the statistics on the V’S used for
inference.
The asymptotic distribution of the t-statistics from this regression were
analyzed by Chan and Wei (1988). The basic finding is that the asymptotic
distribution theory for these tests can be extracted from that of Dickey and
Fuller (1979) and Fuller (1976) for ri and r2, and from Dickey, Hasza, and
Fuller (1984) for r3 if r4 is assumed to be zero. The tests are asymptotically
similar or invariant with respect to nuisance parameters. Furthermore, the
finite-sample results are well approximated by the asymptotic theory and the
tests have reasonable power against each of the specific alternatives.
It is clear that several null hypotheses will be tested for each case of interest.
These can all be computed from the same least-squares regression (3.6) or (3.8)
unless the sequential testing of r3 and r4 is desired.
To show intuitively how these limiting distributions relate to the standard
unit-root tests consider (3.6) with q*(B) = 1. The test for rrl = 0 will have the
familiar Dickey-Fuller distribution if r2 = r3 = r4 = 0 since the model can be
written in the form
Similarly,
if the other V’S are zero. This is a test for a root of - 1 which was shown by
Dickey and Fuller to be the mirror of the Dickey-Fuller distribution. If yZr is
regressed on -y2,_i, the ordinary DF distribution will be appropriate. The
S. f!rlleherg et (II., Smsonul integrution und cointegrutmn 225
Fractiles
‘t’:n, ‘t’ : n7 ‘t’:7 3
Auxiliary
regressions T 0.01 0.025 0.05 0.10 0.01 0.025 0.05 0.10 0.01 0.025 0.05 0.10
-
No intercept 48 - 2.12 ~ 2.29 - 1.95 ~ 1.59 ~ 2.61 - 2.21 - 1.95 ~ 1.60 - 2.66 ~ 2.23 - 1.93 - 1.52
No seas. dum. 100 - 2.60 ~ 2.26 ~ 1.97 ~ 1.61 ~ 2.61 ~ 2.22 - 1.92 - 1.57 - 2.55 -2.18 ~ 1.90 ~ 1.53
No trend 136 ~ 2.62 - 2.25 - 1.93 ~ 1.59 ~ 2.60 - 2.23 -1.94 - 1.61 ~ 2.5X ~ 2.21 - 1.92 ~ 1.56
200 - 2.62 - 2.23 -- 1.94 -1.62 - 2.60 - 2.24 - 1.95 ~ 1.61 ~ 2.5X ~ 2.24 - 1.92 - 1.55
Intercept 48 ~ 3.66 ~ 3.25 ~ 2.96 ~ 2.62 ~ 2.68 ~ 2.27 ~ 1.95 - 1.60 - 2.64 - 2.23 ~ 1.90 -1.52
No seas. dum. 100 ~ 3.41 - 3.14 - 2.88 - 2.58 - 2.61 - 2.24 ~ 1.95 ~ 1.60 ~ 2.61 ~ 2.23 -1.90 - 1.54
No trend 136 -3.51 -3.17 - 2.89 - 2.58 ~ 2.60 ~ 2.21 -1.91 ~ 1.58 - 2.53 - 2.18 - 1.88 -1.53
200 ~ 3.4X - 3.13 - 2.87 - 2.51 - 2.58 - 2.22 - 1.92 -1.59 -2.57 ~ 2.21 -1.90 -1.53
Intercept 4x ~ 3.71 - 3.39 - 3.08 - 2.12 - 3.75 - 3.37 ~ 3.04 ~ 2.69 -4.31 ~ 3.92 - 3.61 - 3.24
Seas. dum. 100 ~ 3.55 ~ 3.22 ~ 2.95 - 2.63 ~ 3.60 ~ 3.22 ~ 2.94 ~ 2.63 ~ 4.06 ~ 3.72 - 3.44 - 3.14
No trend 136 - 3.56 - 3.23 ~ 2.94 ~ 2.62 ~ 3.49 ~ 3.15 ~ 2.90 - 2.59 ~ 4.06 ~ 3.72 - 3.44 -3.11
200 - 3.51 ~ 3.18 - 2.91 - 2.59 - 3.50 - 3.16 - 2.89 - 2.60 - 4.00 - 3.67 ~ 3.38 ~ 3.07
Intercept 4X - 4.23 ~ 3.85 - 3.56 - 3.21 - 2.65 - 2.24 - 1.91 ~ 1.57 -- 2.68 - 2.21 -1.92 ~ 1.52
No seas. dum. 100 ~ 4.07 ~ 3.13 - 3.47 - 3.16 - 2.58 - 2.24 - 1.94 ~ 1.60 - 2.56 -2.19 ~ 1.89 -1.54
Trend 136 - 4.09 - 3.15 ~ 3.46 ~ 3.16 - 2.65 ~ 2.25 ~ 1.96 -1.63 ~ 2.56 ~ 2.20 ~ 1.90 -1.52
20 - 4.05 - 3.70 - 3.44 -3.15 ~ 2.59 - 2.25 ~ 1.95 -1.62 - 2.58 ~ 2.21 - 1.92 - 1.56
Intercept 4x - 4.46 ~ 4.04 - 3.71 -3.37 ~ 3.80 - 3.41 ~ 3.08 ~ 2.13 - 4.46 ~ 4.02 ~ 3.66 ~ 3.28
Seas. dum. 100 ~ 4.09 - 3.80 - 3.53 ~ 3.22 - 3.60 - 3.22 - 2.94 - 2.63 -4.12 - 3.76 - 3.48 - 3.14
Trend 136 - 4.15 ~ 3.X0 - 3.52 - 3.21 ~ 3.57 - 3.18 - 2.93 ~ 2.61 - 4.05 ~ 3.12 ~ 3.44 ~ 3.12
200 - 4.05 - 3.74 ~ 3.49 - 3.18 - 3.52 - 3.18 - 2.91 - 2.60 ~ 4.04 ~ 3.69 - 3.41 - 3.10
Table 1b
Critical values from the small-sample distributions of test statistics for seasonal unit roots on 24000 Monte Carlo replications: data-generating process
Aqx, = E, - nid(0, 1).
Fractiles
Auxiliary 0.99 $
regressions T 0.01 0.025 0.05 0.10 0.90 0.95 0.975 0.99 0.90 0.95 0.975 P
d
No Intercept 48 ~ 2.51 -2.11 -1.76 - 1.35 1.33 1.72 2.05 2.49 2.45 3.26 4.04 5.02 2
No seas. dum. 100 - 2.43 - 2.01 -1.68 -1.32 1.31 1.67 2.00 2.40 2.39 3.12 3.89 4.X9 p
No trend 136 - 2.44 -1.99 - 1.68 - 1.31 1.30 1.66 1.99 2.38 2.41 3.14 3.86 4.81 @
200 ~ 2.43 - 1.98 ~ 1.65 - 1.30 1.29 1.67 1.97 2.36 2.42 3.16 3.92 4.81 k?
a
Intercept 4X -2.44 ~ 2.06 - 1.72 ~ 1.33 1.30 1.68 2.04 2.41 2.32 3.04 3.78 4.78 g
No seas. dum. 100 ~ 2.3X -1.99 ~ 1.68 - 1.30 1.28 1.65 1.97 2.32 2.35 3.08 3.81 4.77 ;
No trend 136 - 2.36 ~ 1.98 -1.6X -1.31 1.27 1.65 1.97 2.31 2.36 3.00 3.70 4.73
4.76 2
200 ~ 2.36 - 1.98 ~ 1.66 - 1.29 1.28 1.65 1.96 2.30 2.37 3.12 3.86 r’
2.
Intercept 4x ~ 2.X6 - 2.31 ~ 1.98 -1.53 1.54 1.96 2.35 2.81 5.50 6.60 7.68 9.22 s
Seas. dum. 100 - 2.78 ~ 2.32 - 1.96 ~ 1.53 1.52 1.93 2.29 2.73 5.56 6.57 7.72 x.74 2
No trend 136 - 2.12 - 2.31 ~ 1.96 - 1.52 1.51 1.92 2.28 2.71 5.56 6.63 7.66 8.92 4
200 ~ 2.74 - 2.33 -1.96 -1.54 1.53 1.95 2.32 2.78 5.56 6.61 7.53 8.93 $.
Intercept 48 - 2.41 - 2.05 - 1.70 - 1.33 1.26 1.64 1.96 2.37 2.23 2.95 3.70 4.64 2
No seas. dum. 100 ~2.38 - 1.97 - 1.65 -1.28 1.28 1.65 1.98 2.32 2.31 2.9X 3.71 4.70 a
4.57 ”
Trend 136 - 2.36 - 1.97 - 1.64 - 1.29 1.26 1.62 1.92 2.31 2.33 3.04 3.69 8
200 - 2.35 - 1.97 -1.66 ~ 1.29 1.26 1.64 1.96 2.30 2.34 3.07 3.76 4.66
Intercept 4X - 2.75 - 2.26 - 1.91 ~ 1.48 1.51 1.97 2.34 2.78 5.37 6.55 7.70 9.27
Seas. dum. 100 ~ 2.16 - 2.32 ~ 1.94 - 1.51 1.51 1.92 2.28 2.69 5.52 6.60 7.52 x.79
Trend 136 - 2.71 ~ 2.78 -1.94 -1.51 1.53 1.96 2.31 2.78 5.55 6.62 7.59 8.77
200 - 2.65 - 2.27 - 1.92 - 1.48 1.55 1.97 2.31 2.71 5.56 6.57 7.56 8.96
228 S. f~~Mwrg et of., Setlsonal integrution und comtegrution
distribution with degrees of freedom equal to two and T minus the number of
regressors in (3.6). However, when seasonal dummies are present, the tail
becomes fatter here as well.
4. Error-correction representation
where F, is a vector white noise process with zero mean and covariance matrix
s2, a positive definite matrix.
There are a variety of possible types of cointegration for such a set of series.
To initially examine these, apply the decomposition of (3.2) to each element of
C(B). This gives
where 6,(B) = 1 - (1/8,)B and A(B) is the product of all the S,(B). For
quarterly data the four relevant roots, 8,, are 1, - 1, i, and -i. which after
solving for the n’s becomes
where \k, = C( 1)/4, q2 = C( - 1)/4, ‘k3 = Re[ C( i)]/2, and \k4 = Im[ C( i)]/2.
Multiplying (4.1) by a vector CY’gives
+C**(B)[1+B+B2+B3]}Et,
so that (Y;x, will have unit roots at the seasonal frequencies but not at zero
frequency. Thus x is cointegrated at zero frequency with cointegrating vector
(pi, if o~~‘C(l) = 0. Denote these as
Notice that the vector yi, = S(B) x, is 1,(l) since (1 - B)yl,= C(B)el, while
‘Y;Y~~is stationary whenever chic = 0 so that ylt is cointegrated in exactly
the sense described in Engle and Granger (1987). Since ylr is essentially
seasonally adjusted x, it follows that one strategy for estimation and testing
for cointegration at zero frequency in seasonal series is to first seasonally
adjust the series.
Similarly, letting _r2,= -(l - B)(l + B2)x,, (1 + B)y,, = - C( B)E, so that
y21 has a unit root at -1. If CX;C(-1) = 0, then a.$q2 = 0 and a;y,, will not
have a unit root at - 1. We say then that x, is cointegrated at frequency
w = t, which is denoted
(1 fB2)x,= [; !f+B2]%
in which both series are I 1,4(1) and there is no fixed cointegrating vector.
However, the polynomial cointegrating vector (PCIV), as introduced by Yoo
(1987) of (-B, 1) will generate a stationary series. It is not surprising with
seasonal unit roots, that the timing could make a difference. We now show
that the need for PCIV is a result purely of the fact that one vector is sought to
230 S. ~viieherg et ul., Seusonal integrution and cointegrution
eliminate two roots (+ i) and that one lag in the cointegrating polynomial is
sufficient.
Expanding the PCIV a(B) about the two roots (+ i) using (3.2) gives
so that the condition that a’(B) C(B) have a common factor of (1 + B2)
depends only on (Ye and Q. The general statement of cointegration at
frequency i then becomes
where M(B) is a diagonal matrix whose determinant has roots only on the
unit circle, and the roots of the determinants of U-‘(B) and V(B)-’ lie
outside the unit circle. This diagonal could contain various combinations of
the unit roots. However, assuming that the cointegrating rank at each fre-
quency is r, the matrix can be written without loss of generality as
(4.4)
A4U(B)x,=M(B)V(B)-1~t. (4.5)
The first N - r equations have a A, on the left side only while the final r
equations have A, on both sides which therefore cancel. Thus (4.5) can be
written as
‘w)x,=Et, (4.8)
where
U,(B)’
has rank r at those frequencies. Now, partition U(B) and V(B) as
U(B) =
1 V(B)
[ a(B)’
=[b(B),
Y(B)],
’
where CX(B) and y(B) are N X r matrices and U,(B) and V,(B) are N x
(N - r) matrices. Expanding the autoregressive matrix using (3.3) gives
written
where A*(O) = C(0) = Z,v in the standard case. This expression is an error-
correction representation where both (Y, the cointegrating vector, and y, the
coefficients of the error-correction term, may be different at different frequen-
cies and, in one case, even at different lags. This can be written in a more
transparent form by allowing more than two lags in the error-correction term.
Add A,(y3a; + y4~; + y,aiB)x,_, to both sides and rearrange terms to get
al, a23 and (us coincide, equalling say, (Y, and (Ye= 0, a simpler error-
cointegrating model occurs:
where the degree of y(B) is at most 3, as can be seen either from (4.10) or
from an expansion of y(B) using (3.2). For four roots there are potentially
four coefficients and three lags.
Finally, some of the cointegrating vectors may coincide but some do not. A
particularly interesting case is where a single linear combination eliminates all
seasonal unit roots. Thus suppose (Ye= (Ye= (Y, and CX~ = 0. Then (4.10)
becomes
In this section it is assumed that there are two series of interest, xi1 and xZt,
both integrated at some of the zero and seasonal frequencies, and the question
to be studied is whether or not the series are cointegrated at some frequency.
Of course, if the two series do not have unit roots at corresponding frequen-
cies, the possibility of cointegration does not exist. The tests discussed in
section 3 can be used to detect which unit roots are present.
Suppose for the moment that both series contain unit roots at the zero
frequency and at least some of the seasonal frequencies. If one is interested in
234 S. Ffvlieherg et al., Seusonal integrution und cointegration
and then test if the residual has a unit root at zero frequency, which is the
procedure in Engle and Granger (1987). However, the presence of seasonal
unit roots means that A may not be consistently estimated, in sharp contrast
to the case when there are no seasonal roots when 2 is estimated supereffi-
ciently. This lack of consistency is proved in Engle, Granger, and Hallman
(1989). If, in fact, xu and x2, are cointegrated at both the zero and the
seasonal frequencies, with cointegrating vectors CQand (Y, and with (pi f (Y$,it
is unclear what value of A would be chosen by the static regression. Presum-
ably, if (pi = LY,, then a will be an estimate of this common value. These
results suggest that the standard procedure for testing for cointegration is
inappropriate.
An alternative strategy would be to filter out unit-root components other
than the one of interest and to test for cointegration with the filtered series.
For example, to remove seasonal roots, one could form
and test if the residual has any seasonal unit roots. The tests developed in
section 3 could be applied, but will not have the same distribution as they
involve estimates of the (Y,. The correct test has yet to be developed.
A situation where the tests of section 3 can be applied directly is where
(pi = (Y,~and some theory suggests a value for this (Y, so that no estimation is
S. I!~~lleherg et (II., Seasowl integrution und coinlegrurion 235
QE
E,
Ou1
oc
CO
- 0
I I * .
L ‘01 s ‘01
236 S. ~1fieherg et d., Seusonal inlegrution und cointegrution
required. One merely forms xlr - CXX~,and tests for unit roots at the zero and
seasonal frequencies.
An example comes from the permanent income hypothesis where the log of
income and the log of consumption may be thought to be cointegrated with
(Y= 1. Thus c - 4’ should have no unit roots using a simplistic form of this
theory, as discussed by Davidson, Hendry, Srba, and Yeo (1978), for instance.
To illustrate the tests, quarterly United Kingdom data for the period 1955.1
to 1984.4 were used with y = log of personal disposable income and c = log of
consumption expenditures on nondurables. The data are shown in fig. 1.
From the figure, it is seen that both series may have a random-walk
character implying that we would expect to find a unit root at the zero
frequency. However, the two series seem to drift apart whereby cointegration
at the zero frequency with cointegrating vector (1, - 1) is less likely. For the
seasonal pattern, it is clear that c contains a much stronger and less changing
seasonal pattern than y, although even the seasonal consumption pattern
changes over the sample period. Based on these preliminary findings, one may
or may not find seasonal unit roots in c and y or both, but cointegration at the
seasonal frequencies cannot be expected.
The tests are based on the auxillary regression (3.6) where G(B) is a
polynomial in B. The deterministic term is a zero, an intercept (I), an
intercept and seasonal dummies (I, SD), an intercept and a trend (I, Tr), or
an intercept. seasonal dummies, and a trend (I, SD, Tr).
In the augmented regressions nonsignificant lags were removed, and for c
and y this implied a lag polynomial of the form 1 - &B - &,B4 - &B’,
where C#Qwas around 0.85, $4 around -0.32, and I& around 0.25. For c - JJ
the lag polynomial was approximately 1 - 0.29B - 0.22B2 + 0.21B4. The ‘t’
statistics from these augmented regressions are shown in table 2.
The results indicate strongly a unit root at the zero frequency in both c, y,
and c -y implying that there is no cointegration between c and y at the
long-run frequency, at least not for the cointegrating vector [l, - 11.
Similarly, the hypothesis that c, y, and c -y are Z1,2(1) cannot be rejected
implying that c and y are not cointegrated at the biannual cycle either.
The results also indicate that the log of consumption expenditures on
nondurables are Z1,4(1) as neither the ‘F’ test nor the two ‘t’ tests can reject
the hypothesis that both r4 and V~ are zero. Such hypotheses are, however,
firmly rejected for the log of personal disposable income and conditional on
these results, c and y cannot possibly be cointegrated at this frequency or at
the frequency corresponding to the complex conjugate root, irrespective of the
forms of the cointegrating vectors. In fact, conditional on r4 being zero, the ‘t’
test on r3 cannot reject a unit root in c -y at the annual frequency in any of
the auxiliary regressions. The assumption that 7r4= 0 is not rejected when
seasonal dummies are absent and the joint ‘F ’ test cannot reject in these cases
either. When the auxiliary regression contains deterministic seasonals, both
S. Hylieberg et ui., Seasonal integmtion und cointegrution 231
Table 2
Tests for seasonal unit roots in the log of UK consumption expenditure on nondurables c, in the
log of personal disposable income y, and in the difference c - .v; 1955.1-1984.4.
- -
Auxiliary ‘t’:n, ‘t’:7r2 ‘t’:n ‘t’:n, ‘F’:n,nlr,
VAR regressron
1 (zero frequency) (biannual) (annuil)
“The auxiliary regressions were augmented by significant lagged values of the fourth difference
of the regressand.
‘Significant at the 5% level.
6. Conclusion
McMillan lemma and the proposition on rational lag polynomials. The error-
correction representation is shown to be a direct generalization of the well-
known form, but on properly transformed variables.
The theory is applied to the UK consumption function and it is shown that
the unit-elasticity error-correction model is not valid at any frequency as long
as we confine ourselves to only the consumption and income data.
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