“…Although nearly integrated asymptotics approximates the finite sample behavior of the t-statistic for no predictability considerably better when regressors are persistent, the exact degree of persistence of a given regressor, and thus the correct critical values for a predictability test, are unknown in practice. To overcome these difficulties, a number of alternative (robust) approaches have been proposed in the literature to test predictability without characterizing the stochastic properties of regressors (i.e., whether they are stationary or nearly integrated or unit root); see, for instance, Cavanagh et al (1995), 1 Campbell and Yogo (2006), Jansson and Moreira (2006), Phillips and Lee (2013), Cai and Wang (2014), Breitung and Demetrescu (2015), Kostakis, et al (2015), Demetrescu and Rodrigues (2016), and references therein.…”