Infinite-Variance Error Structure in Finance and Economics

Fatma Ozgu Serttas*
Volume 10, Issue 1

   Many macroeconomic and financial data exhibit large outliers and high volatility so that their returns are usually modeled to follow an infinite-variance stable process. Extreme behaviors in such data tend to exist especially for emerging markets due to frequent existence of high economic turmoil. A relatively new area of research studies that model the financial returns as infinite-variance stable errors exists for emerging markets as well as for industrialized countries. This study aims to briefly introduce the reader the concept of infinite-variance stable distributions, discuss some existing studies on unit root and cointegration tests that assume infinite-variance stable error structure, and then to point out the potential lines of research while showing the significance of this relatively new concept.

Keywords: Infinite-Variance Errors, Stable Distributions, Financial Returns, Unit Root Tests, Co-Integration Tests.
JEL Classifications: C21, C22, C32.
DOI #: 10.33818/ier.306676