Least absolute deviation estimation for unit root processes with garch errors

This paper considers a local least absolute deviation estimation for unit root processes with generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (GARCH) errors and derives its asymptotic properties under only finite second-order moment for both errors and innovations. When the innovations are symmetrically distributed, the asymptotic distribution of the estimated unit root is shown to be a functional of a bivariate Brownian motion, and then two unit root tests are derived. The simulation results demonstrate that the tests outperform those based on the Gaussian quasi maximum likelihood estimators with heavy-tailed innovations and those based on the simple least absolute deviation estimators. Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press.