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Prediction Sets and Conformal Inference with Interval Outcomes

Weiguang Liu, Áureo de Paula, Elie Tamer

arXiv 17 Jan 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2501.10117 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Given data on a scalar random variable $Y$, a prediction set for $Y$ with miscoverage level $\alpha$ is a set of values for $Y$ that contains a randomly drawn $Y$ with probability $1 - \alpha$, where $\alpha \in (0,1)$. Among all prediction sets that satisfy this coverage property, the oracle prediction set is the one with the smallest volume. This paper provides estimation methods of such prediction sets given observed conditioning covariates when $Y$ is censored or measured in intervals. We first characterise the oracle prediction set under interval censoring and develop a consistent estimator for the shortest prediction {\it interval} that satisfies this coverage property.These consistency results are extended to accommodate cases where the prediction set consists of multiple disjoint intervals. We use conformal inference to construct a prediction set that achieves finite-sample validity under censoring and maintains consistency as sample size increases, using a conformity score function designed for interval data. The procedure accommodates the prediction uncertainty that is irreducible (due to the stochastic nature of outcomes), the modelling uncertainty due to partial identification and also sampling uncertainty that gets reduced as samples get larger. We conduct a set of Monte Carlo simulations and an application to data from the Current Population Survey. The results highlight the robustness and efficiency of the proposed methods.

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42
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in-text mentions
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distinct cited
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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Lei, Jing and Wasserman, Larry Distribution-Free Prediction Bands for Non-Parametric Regression1.00095100%
2Romano, Yaniv and Patterson, Evan and Candes, Emmanuel Conformalized Quantile Regression0.9568488%
3Hansen, Bruce E Uniform Convergence Rates for Kernel Estimation with Dependent Data0.8434375%
4Lei, Jing and Robins, James and Wasserman, Larry Distribution-Free Prediction Sets0.73732100%
5Vovk, Vladimir and Nouretdinov, Ilia and Gammerman, Alex On-Line Predictive Linear Regression0.73732100%
6Barber, Rina Foygel and Candes, Emmanuel J. and Ramdas, Aaditya and… The Limits of Distribution-Free Conditional Predictive Inference0.64422100%
7Barber, Rina Foygel and Candès, Emmanuel J. and Ramdas, Aaditya and… Conformal Prediction beyond Exchangeability0.64422100%
8Chernozhukov, Victor and Wüthrich, Kaspar and Zhu, Yinchu Distributional Conformal Prediction0.64422100%
9Dias, Monica Costa and Joyce, Robert and Postel-Vinay, Fabien and Xu… Worker Mobility and Labour Market Opportunities0.64422100%
10Lei, Jing and G'Sell, Max and Rinaldo, Alessandro and Tibshirani, Ry… Distribution-Free Predictive Inference for Regression0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 42 scored citations.