Three major regression-based seasonal unit root tests: the DHF test introduced by Dickey et al (1984), the HEGY test proposed by Hylleberg et al. (1990) and the Kunst test introduced by Kunst (1997) are compared. The regression model for the DHF test is a reduced form of that for the Kunst test....

GMM provides a computationally convenient estimation method and the resulting estimator can be shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal under the fairly moderate regularity conditions. It is widely known that the information content in the population moment condition has impacts on the...

In this thesis, we extend Bai and Perron's (1998, Econometrica, pp. 47-78) method fordetecting multiple breaks to nonlinear models. To that end, we consider an unstable univariatenonlinear least squares (NLS) model with a limited number of parameter shifts occurring atunknown dates. In our...

This thesis builds a stochastic volatility model for the term structure of interest rates, which is also known as the dynamics of the yield curve. The main purpose of the model is to propose a parsimonious and plausible approach to capture some characteristics that conform to some empirical...

This dissertation consists of three essays on modeling and parameter estimation for covariance non-stationary processes. The first essay considers the non-linear deformation of time scale for G(lambda)-stationary processes developed by Jiang, Gray and Woodward [2006]. After the appropriate...

Utilizing daily instantaneous forward rates of nominal and inflation-indexed bonds as well as realizations of stock and bond index returns, I examine the informational content of a broad set of macroeconomic announcements. I find evidence that, with a few exceptions, price variables mainly move...

In this dissertation, we analyze whether the noise ratio statistic of Durlauf and Hall (1989), NRT, can be used as a non-nested model selection tool in a similar fashion to the Rivers and Vuong (2002) framework. For this purpose, we first show that, when scaled by the sample size T, NRT is...

Spatial and temporal issues are often important concepts within agricultural economics research. Understanding these issues and developing models that incorporate spatio-temporal frameworks can lead to more accuracy in answering important economic questions. This thesis uses the spatio-temporal...