Prediction-Enhanced Monte Carlo: A Machine Learning View on Control Variate

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Fengpei, Chen, Haoxian, Lin, Jiahe, Gupta, Arkin, Tan, Xiaowei, Zhao, Honglei, Xu, Gang, Nevmyvaka, Yuriy, Capponi, Agostino, Lam, Henry
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Li, Fengpei
Chen, Haoxian
Lin, Jiahe
Gupta, Arkin
Tan, Xiaowei
Zhao, Honglei
Xu, Gang
Nevmyvaka, Yuriy
Capponi, Agostino
Lam, Henry
author_facet Li, Fengpei
Chen, Haoxian
Lin, Jiahe
Gupta, Arkin
Tan, Xiaowei
Zhao, Honglei
Xu, Gang
Nevmyvaka, Yuriy
Capponi, Agostino
Lam, Henry
contents For many complex simulation tasks spanning areas such as healthcare, engineering, and finance, Monte Carlo (MC) methods are invaluable due to their unbiased estimates and precise error quantification. Nevertheless, Monte Carlo simulations often become computationally prohibitive, especially for nested, multi-level, or path-dependent evaluations lacking effective variance reduction techniques. While machine learning (ML) surrogates appear as natural alternatives, naive replacements typically introduce unquantifiable biases. We address this challenge by introducing Prediction-Enhanced Monte Carlo (PEMC), a framework that leverages modern ML models as learned predictors, using cheap and parallelizable simulation as features, to output unbiased evaluation with reduced variance and runtime. PEMC can also be viewed as a "modernized" view of control variates, where we consider the overall computation-cost-aware variance reduction instead of per-replication reduction, while bypassing the closed-form mean function requirement and maintaining the advantageous unbiasedness and uncertainty quantifiability of Monte Carlo. We illustrate PEMC's broader efficacy and versatility through three examples: first, equity derivatives such as variance swaps under stochastic local volatility models; second, interest rate derivatives such as swaption pricing under the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) interest-rate model. Finally, we showcase PEMC in a socially significant context - ambulance dispatch and hospital load balancing - where accurate mortality rate estimates are key for ethically sensitive decision-making. Across these diverse scenarios, PEMC consistently reduces variance while preserving unbiasedness, highlighting its potential as a powerful enhancement to standard Monte Carlo baselines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_11257
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prediction-Enhanced Monte Carlo: A Machine Learning View on Control Variate
Li, Fengpei
Chen, Haoxian
Lin, Jiahe
Gupta, Arkin
Tan, Xiaowei
Zhao, Honglei
Xu, Gang
Nevmyvaka, Yuriy
Capponi, Agostino
Lam, Henry
Machine Learning
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Pricing of Securities
For many complex simulation tasks spanning areas such as healthcare, engineering, and finance, Monte Carlo (MC) methods are invaluable due to their unbiased estimates and precise error quantification. Nevertheless, Monte Carlo simulations often become computationally prohibitive, especially for nested, multi-level, or path-dependent evaluations lacking effective variance reduction techniques. While machine learning (ML) surrogates appear as natural alternatives, naive replacements typically introduce unquantifiable biases. We address this challenge by introducing Prediction-Enhanced Monte Carlo (PEMC), a framework that leverages modern ML models as learned predictors, using cheap and parallelizable simulation as features, to output unbiased evaluation with reduced variance and runtime. PEMC can also be viewed as a "modernized" view of control variates, where we consider the overall computation-cost-aware variance reduction instead of per-replication reduction, while bypassing the closed-form mean function requirement and maintaining the advantageous unbiasedness and uncertainty quantifiability of Monte Carlo. We illustrate PEMC's broader efficacy and versatility through three examples: first, equity derivatives such as variance swaps under stochastic local volatility models; second, interest rate derivatives such as swaption pricing under the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) interest-rate model. Finally, we showcase PEMC in a socially significant context - ambulance dispatch and hospital load balancing - where accurate mortality rate estimates are key for ethically sensitive decision-making. Across these diverse scenarios, PEMC consistently reduces variance while preserving unbiasedness, highlighting its potential as a powerful enhancement to standard Monte Carlo baselines.
title Prediction-Enhanced Monte Carlo: A Machine Learning View on Control Variate
topic Machine Learning
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Pricing of Securities
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11257