A Fluctuation Test for Structural Change Detection in Heterogeneous Panel Data Models

Structural change in panel data is a widespread phenomena. This paper proposes a fluctuation test to detect a structural change at an unknown date in heterogeneous panel data models with or without common correlated effects. The asymptotic properties of the fluctuation statistics in two cases are developed under the null and local alternative hypothesis. Furthermore, the consistency of the change point estimator is proven. Monte Carlo simulation shows that the fluctuation test can control the probability of type I error in most cases, and the empirical power is high in case of small and moderate sample sizes. An application of the procedure to a real data is presented.