The Annals of Statistics

Evaluating probability forecasts

Tze Leung Lai, Shulamith T. Gross, and David Bo Shen

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Abstract

Probability forecasts of events are routinely used in climate predictions, in forecasting default probabilities on bank loans or in estimating the probability of a patient’s positive response to treatment. Scoring rules have long been used to assess the efficacy of the forecast probabilities after observing the occurrence, or nonoccurrence, of the predicted events. We develop herein a statistical theory for scoring rules and propose an alternative approach to the evaluation of probability forecasts. This approach uses loss functions relating the predicted to the actual probabilities of the events and applies martingale theory to exploit the temporal structure between the forecast and the subsequent occurrence or nonoccurrence of the event.

Article information

Source
Ann. Statist., Volume 39, Number 5 (2011), 2356-2382.

Dates
First available in Project Euclid: 30 November 2011

Permanent link to this document
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1322663461

Digital Object Identifier
doi:10.1214/11-AOS902

Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet)
MR2906871

Zentralblatt MATH identifier
1235.62127

Subjects
Primary: 60G42: Martingales with discrete parameter 62P99: None of the above, but in this section
Secondary: 62P05: Applications to actuarial sciences and financial mathematics

Keywords
Forecasting loss functions martingales scoring rules

Citation

Lai, Tze Leung; Gross, Shulamith T.; Shen, David Bo. Evaluating probability forecasts. Ann. Statist. 39 (2011), no. 5, 2356--2382. doi:10.1214/11-AOS902. https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1322663461


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