Abstract

Factor analysis is a widely used tool to summarize high dimensional panel data via a small dimensional set of latent factors. Applications, particularly in finance, are often focused on observable factors with an economic interpretation. The objective of this paper is to provide a formal test for the question whether the factor spaces of latent and observable (economic) factors are equal. We derive asymptotic properties and propose a bootstrap version of the test which has improved small sample properties.

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• Keyword(s):
• economics 47
• finance 266

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