Distributional Refinement Network: Distributional Forecasting via Deep Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Avanzi, Benjamin, Dong, Eric, Laub, Patrick J., Wong, Bernard
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Avanzi, Benjamin
Dong, Eric
Laub, Patrick J.
Wong, Bernard
author_facet Avanzi, Benjamin
Dong, Eric
Laub, Patrick J.
Wong, Bernard
contents A key task in actuarial modelling involves modelling the distributional properties of losses. Classic (distributional) regression approaches like Generalized Linear Models (GLMs; Nelder and Wedderburn, 1972) are commonly used, but challenges remain in developing models that can (i) allow covariates to flexibly impact different aspects of the conditional distribution, (ii) integrate developments in machine learning and AI to maximise the predictive power while considering (i), and, (iii) maintain a level of interpretability in the model to enhance trust in the model and its outputs, which is often compromised in efforts pursuing (i) and (ii). We tackle this problem by proposing a Distributional Refinement Network (DRN), which combines an inherently interpretable baseline model (such as GLMs) with a flexible neural network-a modified Deep Distribution Regression (DDR; Li et al., 2019) method. Inspired by the Combined Actuarial Neural Network (CANN; Schelldorfer and W{\''u}thrich, 2019), our approach flexibly refines the entire baseline distribution. As a result, the DRN captures varying effects of features across all quantiles, improving predictive performance while maintaining adequate interpretability. Using both synthetic and real-world data, we demonstrate the DRN's superior distributional forecasting capacity. The DRN has the potential to be a powerful distributional regression model in actuarial science and beyond.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_00998
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Distributional Refinement Network: Distributional Forecasting via Deep Learning
Avanzi, Benjamin
Dong, Eric
Laub, Patrick J.
Wong, Bernard
Machine Learning
Risk Management
Methodology
91G70, 91G60, 62P05, 91B30
A key task in actuarial modelling involves modelling the distributional properties of losses. Classic (distributional) regression approaches like Generalized Linear Models (GLMs; Nelder and Wedderburn, 1972) are commonly used, but challenges remain in developing models that can (i) allow covariates to flexibly impact different aspects of the conditional distribution, (ii) integrate developments in machine learning and AI to maximise the predictive power while considering (i), and, (iii) maintain a level of interpretability in the model to enhance trust in the model and its outputs, which is often compromised in efforts pursuing (i) and (ii). We tackle this problem by proposing a Distributional Refinement Network (DRN), which combines an inherently interpretable baseline model (such as GLMs) with a flexible neural network-a modified Deep Distribution Regression (DDR; Li et al., 2019) method. Inspired by the Combined Actuarial Neural Network (CANN; Schelldorfer and W{\''u}thrich, 2019), our approach flexibly refines the entire baseline distribution. As a result, the DRN captures varying effects of features across all quantiles, improving predictive performance while maintaining adequate interpretability. Using both synthetic and real-world data, we demonstrate the DRN's superior distributional forecasting capacity. The DRN has the potential to be a powerful distributional regression model in actuarial science and beyond.
title Distributional Refinement Network: Distributional Forecasting via Deep Learning
topic Machine Learning
Risk Management
Methodology
91G70, 91G60, 62P05, 91B30
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.00998