In this paper we deal with the identification of an autoregressive model for an observed time series and the detection of a unit root in its characteristic polynomial. This is a big issue concerned with distinguishing stationary time series from time series for which differencing is required to induce stationarity. We consider a Bayesian approach, and particular attention is devoted to the problem of the sensitivity of the standard Bayesian analysis with respect to the choice of the prior distribution for the autoregressive coefficients.We thank three anonymous referees for their useful comments, which have improved the final version of the paper.

It is a challenging task to review the research carried out by Professor Sargan which has covered such a broad range of areas and which offers general and unifying approaches to tackling problems and to obtaining results.I can only apologize for my audacity in accepting to deliver this laudatio. In order to remedy the limitation of my resources, I have benefited from Manuel Arellano's help and I have used the papers by David Hendry and Ken Wallis (1984), Peter Phillips (1985), and Esfandiar Maasoumi (1988a, 1988b). These papers review and summarize the works of the common master, who is considered to be one of the major contributors to Econometrics; in the words of Professor T.W. Anderson: “one of the most distinguished econometricians of our generation.” I am grateful to Peter Phillips and Grayham Mizon for their comments in preparing the English version of this laudatio.

In this paper, we develop methods for statistical inferences in a partially identified nonparametric panel data model with endogeneity and interactive fixed effects. Under some normalization rules, we can concentrate out the large-dimensional parameter vector of factor loadings and specify a set of conditional moment restrictions that are involved with only the finite-dimensional factor parameters along with the infinite-dimensional nonparametric component. For a conjectured restriction on the parameter, we consider testing the null hypothesis that the restriction is satisfied by at least one element in the identified set and propose a test statistic based on a novel martingale difference divergence measure for the distance between a conditional expectation object and zero. We derive a tight asymptotic distributional upper bound for the resultant test statistic under the null and show that it is divergent at rate-N under the global alternative. To obtain the critical values for our test, we propose a version of multiplier bootstrap and establish its asymptotic validity. Simulations demonstrate the finite sample properties of our inference procedure. We apply our method to study Engel curves for major nondurable expenditures in China by using a panel dataset from the China Family Panel Studies.

We examine a test for weak stationarity against alternatives that covers both local-stationarity and break point models. A key feature of the test is that its asymptotic distribution is a functional of the standard Brownian bridge sheet in [0,1]2, so that it does not depend on any unknown quantity. The test has nontrivial power against local alternatives converging to the null hypothesis at a T−1/2 rate, where T is the sample size. We also examine an easy-to-implement bootstrap analogue and present the finite sample performance in a Monte Carlo experiment. Finally, we implement the methodology to assess the stability of inflation dynamics in the United States and on a set of neuroscience tremor data.

This paper considers some finite sample properties of the partially restricted reduced form estimators in a general (n + 1) endogenous variable model. In particular, the characteristic functions, density functions, and moments are examined for both the vector of estimators and a linear combination. The approach utilizes both invariant polynomials of matrix argument (see Chikuse and Davis [4] and Davis [6]) and fractional calculus techniques (see Phillips [20,25,26]).

This note re-investigates the smooth tests for the equality of distributions introduced by Bera et al. (2013, Econometric Theory 29, 419–446) and provides a modified smooth test which works for the general case with two sample sizes m and n. Asymptotic properties of the proposed test statistic under both the null and the alternative hypothesis are studied.

In this article, we consider binary response models with linear quantile restrictions. Considerably generalizing previous research on this topic, our analysis focuses on an infinite collection of quantile estimators. We derive a uniform linearization for the properly standardized empirical quantile process and discover some surprising differences with the setting of continuously observed responses. Moreover, we show that considering quantile processes provides an effective way of estimating binary choice probabilities without restrictive assumptions on the form of the link function, heteroskedasticity, or the need for high dimensional nonparametric smoothing necessary for approaches available so far. A uniform linear representation and results on asymptotic normality are provided, and the connection to rearrangements is discussed.

On the rank of a matrix useful in goodness-of-fit testing of structural equation models—solution.An excellent solution was independently proposed by A. Satorra and H. Neudecker, the posers of the problem.

We examine the identifiability of a nonlinear state space system under general assumptions. The discrete time evolution of the state is generated by a recurrent Elman network. For a large set of Elman networks we determine the class of observationally equivalent minimal systems, i.e., minimal systems that exhibit the same input-output behavior.The authors are grateful for discussions with M. Deistler and D. Bauer. A.A. Al-Falou was funded by the ERNSI network within the European Union program Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR). D. Trummer was funded by the FWF (Austrian Science Fund). We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions.

The Econometric Society Australasian Meeting in 1997 was hosted by the economics department at the University of Melbourne on July 2 to 4 with Peter Bardsley (economics) and Vance L. Martin (econometrics) as cochairpersons. Special features consisted of a star-studded lineup of invited speakers, the inaugural E.J. Hannan lecture, a range of special seminars in economic theory and econometric theory, and a number of nonacademic but spirited special events that took place both during and after the conference.