The Uncertainty of Machine Learning Predictions in Asset Pricing

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liao, Yuan, Ma, Xinjie, Neuhierl, Andreas, Schilling, Linda
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866910853590155264
author Liao, Yuan
Ma, Xinjie
Neuhierl, Andreas
Schilling, Linda
author_facet Liao, Yuan
Ma, Xinjie
Neuhierl, Andreas
Schilling, Linda
contents Machine learning in asset pricing typically predicts expected returns as point estimates, ignoring uncertainty. We develop new methods to construct forecast confidence intervals for expected returns obtained from neural networks. We show that neural network forecasts of expected returns share the same asymptotic distribution as classic nonparametric methods, enabling a closed-form expression for their standard errors. We also propose a computationally feasible bootstrap to obtain the asymptotic distribution. We incorporate these forecast confidence intervals into an uncertainty-averse investment framework. This provides an economic rationale for shrinkage implementations of portfolio selection. Empirically, our methods improve out-of-sample performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_00549
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Uncertainty of Machine Learning Predictions in Asset Pricing
Liao, Yuan
Ma, Xinjie
Neuhierl, Andreas
Schilling, Linda
Econometrics
Machine Learning
Machine learning in asset pricing typically predicts expected returns as point estimates, ignoring uncertainty. We develop new methods to construct forecast confidence intervals for expected returns obtained from neural networks. We show that neural network forecasts of expected returns share the same asymptotic distribution as classic nonparametric methods, enabling a closed-form expression for their standard errors. We also propose a computationally feasible bootstrap to obtain the asymptotic distribution. We incorporate these forecast confidence intervals into an uncertainty-averse investment framework. This provides an economic rationale for shrinkage implementations of portfolio selection. Empirically, our methods improve out-of-sample performance.
title The Uncertainty of Machine Learning Predictions in Asset Pricing
topic Econometrics
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00549