Using Treasury forecasts of the growth in real total consumers' expenditure a number of issues in macroeconomic forecasting are addressed. By restricting attention to a single variable, a more detailed examination is provided than is otherwise possible, thus complementing more general studies....

A class of smooth transition momentum-threshold autoregressive (ST-MTAR) tests is proposed to allow testing of the unit root hypothesis against an alternative of asymmetric adjustment about a smooth nonlinear trend. Monte-Carlo simulation is employed to derive finite-sample critical values for...

The debate concerning the mean reverting nature of the consumption-income ratio is revisited. The existing literature is extended by allowing for the as yet unconsidered possibility of asymmetric mean reversion in a collection of OECD economies. Using specifically derived finite-sample critical...

This paper analyses the properties of Dickey-Fuller (1979) (DF) unit root tests in the presence of trend mis-specification. It is shown that while the performance of the DF coefficient test is as expected, the DF test in its t-ratio form exhibits unusual behaviour. In particular it is found that...

The properties of the 'change in persistence'' tests developed by Leybourne et al. (2003) are considered in the presence of structural change under the null. Interestingly, it is found that while breaks in drift result in undersizing, breaks in level lead to severe oversizing. The implications...