As is well known, when using an information criterion to select the number of common factors in factor models the appropriate penalty is generally indetermine in the sense that it can be scaled by an arbitrary constant, c say, without affecting consistency. In an influential paper, Hallin and...

Most studies of the predictability of returns are based on time series data, and whenever panel data are used, the testing is almost always conducted in an unrestricted unit by unit fashion, which makes for a very heavy parametrization of the model. On the other hand, the few panel tests that...

The few panel data tests for predictability of returns that exist are based on the prerequisite that both the number of time series observations, T, and the number of crosssection units, N, are large. As a result, these tests are impossible for stock markets where lengthy time series data are...

In this article, we propose a new estimator of panel data models with interactive fixed effects and multiple structural breaks that is suitable when the number of time periods, T, is fixed and only the number of cross-sectional units, N, is large. This is done by viewing the determination of the...