Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The variance-ratio (VR) test statistic, which is based on k-period differences of the data, is commonly used in empirical finance and economics to test the random walk hypothesis. We obtain the asymptotic power function of the VR test statistic when the differencing period k is increasing with the sample size n such that k/n → δ > 0. We show that the test is inconsistent against a variety of mean-reverting alternatives, confirm the result in simulations, and then characterize the functional form of the asymptotic power in terms of δ and these alternatives.