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Bayesian Deep Learning for Discrete Choice

Daniel F. Villarraga, Ricardo A. Daziano

arXiv 23 May 2025 · Statistics — Machine Learning · 1 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2505.18077 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Discrete choice models (DCMs) are used to analyze individual decision-making in contexts such as transportation choices, political elections, and consumer preferences. DCMs play a central role in applied econometrics by enabling inference on key economic variables, such as marginal rates of substitution, rather than focusing solely on predicting choices on new unlabeled data. However, while traditional DCMs offer high interpretability and support for point and interval estimation of economic quantities, these models often underperform in predictive tasks compared to deep learning (DL) models. Despite their predictive advantages, DL models remain largely underutilized in discrete choice due to concerns about their lack of interpretability, unstable parameter estimates, and the absence of established methods for uncertainty quantification. Here, we introduce a deep learning model architecture specifically designed to integrate with approximate Bayesian inference methods, such as Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics (SGLD). Our proposed model collapses to behaviorally informed hypotheses when data is limited, mitigating overfitting and instability in underspecified settings while retaining the flexibility to capture complex nonlinear relationships when sufficient data is available. We demonstrate our approach using SGLD through a Monte Carlo simulation study, evaluating both predictive metrics--such as out-of-sample balanced accuracy--and inferential metrics--such as empirical coverage for marginal rates of substitution interval estimates. Additionally, we present results from two empirical case studies: one using revealed mode choice data in NYC, and the other based on the widely used Swiss train choice stated preference data.

Citation extraction

33
references
72
in-text mentions
33
distinct cited
3
self-citations
12,618
main-text words

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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
1Villarraga, Daniel F and Daziano, Ricardo A (2025) Designing Graph Convolutional Neural Networks for Discrete Choice with Network Effects self1.00095100%
2Wang, Shenhao and Wang, Qingyi and Zhao, Jinhua (2020) Deep neural networks for choice analysis: Extracting complete economic information for interpretation1.00064100%
3Welling, Max and Teh, Yee W (2011) Bayesian learning via stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics0.81142100%
4Arkoudi, Ioanna and Krueger, Rico and Azevedo, Carlos Lima and Perei… (2023) Combining discrete choice models and neural networks through embeddings: Formulation, interpretability and performance0.73732100%
5Papamarkou, Theodore and Skoularidou, Maria and Palla, Konstantina a… (2024) Position: Bayesian deep learning is needed in the age of large-scale AI0.73732100%
6Wilson, Andrew G and Izmailov, Pavel (2020) Bayesian deep learning and a probabilistic perspective of generalization0.73732100%
7Wilson, Andrew Gordon and Izmailov, Pavel (2020) Bayesian deep learning and a probabilistic perspective of generalization0.69351100%
8Izmailov, Pavel and Podoprikhin, Dmitrii and Garipov, Timur and Vetr… (2018) Averaging weights leads to wider optima and better generalization0.69351100%
9Villarraga, Daniel F. and Daziano, Ricardo A (2025) Hierarchical Nearest Neighbor Gaussian Process models for discrete choice: Mode choice in New York City0.64422100%
10Sifringer, Brian and Lurkin, Virginie and Alahi, Alexandre (2018) Enhancing discrete choice models with neural networks0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 33 scored citations.