Testing for Weak Separability Using Stochastic Semi-Nonparametric Tests: An Empirical Study on Us Data

Abstract

In this paper, we use the weak separability criterion to check for the existence of six different monetary aggregates reported by the Center of Financial Stability (CFS). We implement an extended version of the semi-nonparametric tests introduced by Barnett and de Peretti on US monthly data from January 1967 to December 2012. The test, first, checks for the necessary existence conditions of an overall utility function and a monetary subutility function, and then tests for the separability of the latter. On different subsamples, our results suggest that only the DM1 aggregate meets the separability criterion. Implemented on macroeconomic data, we have tested a joint assumption about separability and the existence of a representative agent. Thus, the rejection of the null could also be due to the rejection of stringent Gorman's conditions. More advanced tests for weak separability are clearly required to confirm the results found in this paper.

The Demand for Assets and Optimal Monetary Aggregation

“…Stage 1 has been conducted mostly using the nonparametric techniques of revealed preference analysis, introduced by Varian (). See, for example, Swofford and Whitney (, , ), Fleissig and Whitney (, ), de Peretti (2005), Jones and de Peretti (), Barnett and de Peretti (), and Mattson and de Peretti (); Elger et al. () also employ nonparametric weak separability tests to determine the optimal level of monetary aggregation in the United Kingdom.…”