Technical Note—The Joint Impact of F-Divergences and Reference Models on the Contents of Uncertainty Sets

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

Autoren

  • Thomas Kruse
  • Judith C. Schneider
  • Nikolaus Schweizer

Externe Organisationen

  • Universität Duisburg-Essen
  • Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU)
  • Tilburg University
Forschungs-netzwerk anzeigen

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)428-435
Seitenumfang8
FachzeitschriftOperations research
Jahrgang67
Ausgabenummer2
Frühes Online-Datum29 März 2019
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Apr. 2019
Extern publiziertJa

Abstract

In the presence of model risk, it is well established to replace classical expected values with worst-case expectations over all models within a fixed radius from a given reference model. This is the “robustness” approach. For the class of F-divergences, we provide a careful assessment of how the interplay between reference model and divergence measure shapes the contents of uncertainty sets. We show that the classical divergences, relative entropy and polynomial divergences, are inadequate for reference models that are moderately heavy-tailed, such as lognormal models. Worst cases either are infinitely pessimistic or rule out the possibility of fat-tailed “power law” models as plausible alternatives. Moreover, we rule out the existence of a single F-divergence, which is appropriate regardless of the reference model. Thus, the reference model should not be neglected when settling on any particular divergence measure in the robustness approach.

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Zitieren

Technical Note—The Joint Impact of F-Divergences and Reference Models on the Contents of Uncertainty Sets. / Kruse, Thomas; Schneider, Judith C.; Schweizer, Nikolaus.
in: Operations research, Jahrgang 67, Nr. 2, 04.2019, S. 428-435.

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

Kruse T, Schneider JC, Schweizer N. Technical Note—The Joint Impact of F-Divergences and Reference Models on the Contents of Uncertainty Sets. Operations research. 2019 Apr;67(2):428-435. Epub 2019 Mär 29. doi: 10.1287/opre.2018.1807
Kruse, Thomas ; Schneider, Judith C. ; Schweizer, Nikolaus. / Technical Note—The Joint Impact of F-Divergences and Reference Models on the Contents of Uncertainty Sets. in: Operations research. 2019 ; Jahrgang 67, Nr. 2. S. 428-435.
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