Validity of purchasing power parity for selected Latin American countries : linear and non-linear unit root tests

The aim of this study is to examine empirically the validity of PPP in the context of unit root tests based on linear and non-linear models of the real effective exchange rate of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. For this purpose, we apply the Harvey et al. (2008) linearity test and the non-linear unit root test (Kruse, 2011). The results show that the series with linear characteristics are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru and those with non-linear characteristics are Mexico and Venezuela. The linear unit root tests indicate that the real effective exchange rate is stationary for Chile and Peru, and the non-linear unit root tests evidence that Mexico is stationary. In the period analyzed, the results show support for the validity of PPP in only three of the seven countries.