This paper analyzes the hypothesis of hysteresis in Europe. The results are favorable to smooth transition trend-stationarity in European unemployment rates around highly persistent structural changes. In addition, we find evidence of a common force that generates this nonlinear behavior.

A novel procedure is applied to test for switches between hysteresis and the natural rate theory over more than a century of UK and USA unemployment data. For both the countries we see a period conforming to hysteresis starting in the early 1920s for the UK and 1930 for USA.

International wheat prices are tested for cointegration allowing for exponential smooth transition adjustment. The results suggest that owing to transactions costs, it is plausible that arbitrage will be greater, the further the prices deviate from each other.