Using PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) data, we investigate which countries' schools can be be classified as significantly better or weaker than Germany's as regards the reading literacy of primary school children. The `standard' approach is to conduct separate tests for...

We analyse whether tests of PPP exhibit erratic behaviour (as previously reported by Caporale et al., 2003) even when (possibly unwarranted) homogeneity and proportionality restrictions are not imposed, and trivariate cointegration (stage-three) tests between the nominal exchange rate, domestic...

type="main" xml:id="obes12048-abs-0001" <title type="main">Abstract</title> <p>Cross-section regressions often examine many candidate regressors. We use multiple testing procedures (MTPs) controlling the false discovery rate (FDR) — the expected ratio of false to all rejections — so as not to erroneously select variables...</p>

<Para ID="Par1">This paper argues that typical applications of panel unit root tests should take possible nonstationarity in the volatility process of the innovations of the panel time series into account. Nonstationary volatility arises, for instance, when there are structural breaks in the innovation...</para>

It was recently shown that time series cointegration tests, even in the presence of large sample sizes, often yield conicting conclusions (\mixed signals") as measured by, inter alia, a low correlation of empirical p-values. We present evidence suggesting that the problem of mixed signals...

This article proposes a new panel unit root test based on Simes’ (1986) classical intersection test. The test is robust to general patterns of cross-sectional dependence and yet is straightforward to implement, only requiring <italic>p</italic>-values of time series unit root tests of the series in the panel,...

The Cauchy estimator of an autoregressive root uses the sign of the first lag as instrumental variable. The resulting IV <italic>t</italic>-type statistic follows a standard normal limiting distribution under a unit root case even under unconditional heteroscedasticity, if the series to be tested has no...

While the limiting null distributions of cointegration tests are invariant to a certain amount of conditional heteroskedasticity as long as global homoskedasticity conditions are fulfilled, they are certainly affected when the innovations exhibit time-varying volatility. Worse yet, distortions...