|  | 
	
		|  | 
	
		| Jamel  JOUINI and Mohamed  BOUTAHAR | 
	
		|  | 
	
		| ''wrong estimation of the true number of shifts in structural break models: Theoretical and numerical evidence'' | 
	
		| ( 2007, Vol. 3 No.3 ) | 
	
		|  | 
	
		|  | 
	
		| The aim of the paper is to consider the problem of selecting the number of breaks in the mean of a time series. Indeed, we prove analytically and show by a Monte Carlo study that some model selection criteria will tend to choose a spuriously high number of structural breaks when the process is trend-stationary without changes. The important question suggested by our results is that of distinction between trend-stationary process and random walk when modelling real data series. | 
	
		|  | 
	
		|  | 
	
		| Keywords: Model selection | 
	
		| JEL: C2 - Single Equation Models; Single Variables: General 
 | 
	
		|  | 
	
		| | Manuscript Received : Nov 23 2006 |  | Manuscript Accepted : Jan 10 2007 | 
 |