A Global Wavelet Based Bootstrapped Test of Covariance Stationarity

Abstract: We propose a covariance stationarity test for an otherwise dependent and possibly globally non-stationary time series. We work in a generalized version of the new setting in Jin, Wang and Wang (2015), who exploit Walsh (1923) functions in order to compare sub-sample covariances with the full sample counterpart. They impose strict stationarity under the null, only consider linear processes under either hypothesis in order to achieve a parametric estimator for an inverted high dimensional asymptotic covariance matrix, and do not consider any other orthonormal basis. Conversely, we work with a general orthonormal basis under mild conditions that include Haar wavelet and Walsh functions; and we allow for linear or nonlinear processes with possibly non-iid innovations. This is important in macroeconomics and finance where nonlinear feedback and random volatility occur in many settings. We completely sidestep asymptotic covariance matrix estimation and inversion by bootstrapping a max-correlation difference statistic, where the maximum is taken over the correlation lag $h$ and basis generated sub-sample counter $k$ (the number of systematic samples). We achieve a higher feasible rate of increase for the maximum lag and counter $\mathcal{H}{T}$ and $\mathcal{K}{T}$. Of particular note, our test is capable of detecting breaks in variance, and distant, or very mild, deviations from stationarity.