A comparison of unit root test criteria

During the past fifteen years, the ordinary least squares estimator and the corresponding pivotal statistic have been widely used for testing the unit root hypothesis in autoregressive processes. Recently, several new criteriia, based on the maximum likelihood estimators and weighted symmetric estimators, have been proposed. In this article, we describe several different test criteria. Results from a Monte Carlo study that compares the power of the different criteria indicates that the new tests are more powerful against the stationary alternative. Of the procedures studied, the weighted symmetric estimator and the unconditional maximum likelihood estimator provide the most powerful tests against the stationary alternative. As an illustration, we analyze the quarterly change in busine;ss investories.