Time-transformed unit root tests for models with non-stationary volatility

Conventional unit root tests are known to be unreliable in the presence of permanent volatility shifts. In this paper, we propose a new approach to unit root testing which is valid in the presence of a quite general class of permanent variance changes which includes single and multiple (abrupt and smooth transition) volatility change processes as special cases. The new tests are based on a time transformation of the series of interest which automatically corrects their form for the presence of non-stationary volatility without the need to specify any parametric model for the volatility process. Despite their generality, the new tests perform well even in small samples. We also propose a class of tests for the null hypothesis of stationary volatility in (near-) integrated time-series processes.