Identifiable Convex-Concave Regression via Sub-gradient Regularised Least Squares

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1. Verfasser: Chung, William
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Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Chung, William
author_facet Chung, William
contents We propose a novel nonparametric regression method that models complex input-output relationships as the sum of convex and concave components. The method-Identifiable Convex-Concave Nonparametric Least Squares (ICCNLS)-decomposes the target function into additive shape-constrained components, each represented via sub-gradient-constrained affine functions. To address the affine ambiguity inherent in convex-concave decompositions, we introduce global statistical orthogonality constraints, ensuring that residuals are uncorrelated with both intercept and input variables. This enforces decomposition identifiability and improves interpretability. We further incorporate L1, L2 and elastic net regularisation on sub-gradients to enhance generalisation and promote structural sparsity. The proposed method is evaluated on synthetic and real-world datasets, including healthcare pricing data, and demonstrates improved predictive accuracy and model simplicity compared to conventional CNLS and difference-of-convex (DC) regression approaches. Our results show that statistical identifiability, when paired with convex-concave structure and sub-gradient regularisation, yields interpretable models suited for forecasting, benchmarking, and policy evaluation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_18078
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifiable Convex-Concave Regression via Sub-gradient Regularised Least Squares
Chung, William
Machine Learning
Statistics Theory
Applications
90C25, 62J02 (Primary) 62G08, 90C90, 68T09 (Secondary)
We propose a novel nonparametric regression method that models complex input-output relationships as the sum of convex and concave components. The method-Identifiable Convex-Concave Nonparametric Least Squares (ICCNLS)-decomposes the target function into additive shape-constrained components, each represented via sub-gradient-constrained affine functions. To address the affine ambiguity inherent in convex-concave decompositions, we introduce global statistical orthogonality constraints, ensuring that residuals are uncorrelated with both intercept and input variables. This enforces decomposition identifiability and improves interpretability. We further incorporate L1, L2 and elastic net regularisation on sub-gradients to enhance generalisation and promote structural sparsity. The proposed method is evaluated on synthetic and real-world datasets, including healthcare pricing data, and demonstrates improved predictive accuracy and model simplicity compared to conventional CNLS and difference-of-convex (DC) regression approaches. Our results show that statistical identifiability, when paired with convex-concave structure and sub-gradient regularisation, yields interpretable models suited for forecasting, benchmarking, and policy evaluation.
title Identifiable Convex-Concave Regression via Sub-gradient Regularised Least Squares
topic Machine Learning
Statistics Theory
Applications
90C25, 62J02 (Primary) 62G08, 90C90, 68T09 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18078