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An improved density approximation for the Zivot–Andrews test

Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti

Economics Letters2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112833article
AJG 3ABDC A
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0.50

Abstract

The unit-root test by Zivot and Andrews(1992) for series with possible structural breaks has been the industry standard for over 30 years. All available software reports the critical values presented in the original article, which were computed with the technology available at the time. By a much larger simulation exercise, the relevant distributions are approximated by Gaussian mixtures. This makes the computation of p -values straightforward and handles finite-sample issues very naturally. We show that the discrepancies between the original critical values and ours are relatively minor, but not negligible in some cases. • The Zivot-Andrews unit root test has been widely used for over 30 years. • Critical values and p-vales can be calculated by larger simulations. • We provide a simple but effective algorithm for calculating p-values.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112833

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@article{riccardo2026,
  title        = {{An improved density approximation for the Zivot–Andrews test}},
  author       = {Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti},
  journal      = {Economics Letters},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112833},
}

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An improved density approximation for the Zivot–Andrews test

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