Is Chinese provincial real GDP per capita nonstationary? Evidence from multiple trend break unit root tests

This article examines the unit root hypothesis for real GDP per capita in 25 of China's provinces. When we test for unit roots assuming either no structural breaks or one structural break, the evidence supports the unit root hypothesis. With multiple structural breaks, the evidence against a unit root is mixed. When both breaks in the trend function are restricted to the intercept, there is no additional evidence against the unit root hypothesis. However, with breaks in the intercept and the slope of the trend function, the unit root hypothesis can be rejected for just under half of the provinces. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.