Testing for embeddability by stationary reversible continuous-time markov processes

Given an observation of a discrete-time process {Y_i, i = 0 . . . n} assumed to be Markov, stationary, and time reversible, we develop a (conservative) test procedure of embeddability by a continuous-time reversible Markov process. The test statistic is derived from a set of moment inequality restrictions implied by the spectral properties of such continuous-time processes. Most interesting is that the embeddability condition of interest is a direct extension of the well-known embeddability problem by a two-state Markov chain. Empirical experiments show that the embeddability hypothesis is rejected more frequently for exchange rate daily data than for stock indices data.