There are several scoring rules that one can choose from in order to score probabilistic forecasting models or estimate model parameters. Whilst it is generally agreed that proper scoring rules are preferable, there is no clear criterion for preferring one proper scoring rule above another. This manuscript compares and contrasts some commonly used proper scoring rules and provides guidance on scoring rule selection. In particular, it is shown that the logarithmic scoring rule prefers erring with more uncertainty, the spherical scoring rule prefers erring with lower uncertainty, whereas the other scoring rules are indifferent to either option.
Probabilistic Forecasting with Generative Networks via Scoring Rule Minimization
University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学）；University of Warwick（华威大学）；European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts（欧洲中期天气预报中心）
Averages of proper scoring rules are often used to rank probabilistic forecasts. In many cases, the individual terms in these averages are based on observations and forecasts from different distributions. We show that some of the most popular proper scoring rules, such as the continuous ranked probability score (CRPS), give more importance to observations with large uncertainty which can lead to unintuitive rankings. To describe this issue, we define the concept of local scale invariance for scoring rules. A new class of generalized proper kernel scoring rules is derived and as a member of thi…
In recent years, probabilistic forecasting is an emerging topic, which is why there is a growing need of suitable methods for the evaluation of multivariate predictions. We analyze the sensitivity of the most common scoring rules, especially regarding quality of the forecasted dependency structures. Additionally, we propose scoring rules based on the copula, which uniquely describes the dependency structure for every probability distribution with continuous marginal distributions. Efficient estimation of the considered scoring rules and evaluation methods such as the Diebold-Mariano test are d…
Scoring functions are used to evaluate and compare partially probabilistic forecasts. We investigate the use of rank-sum functions such as empirical Area Under the Curve (AUC), a widely-used measure of classification performance, as a scoring function for the prediction of probabilities of a set of binary outcomes. It is shown that the AUC is not generally a proper scoring function, that is, under certain circumstances it is possible to improve on the expected AUC by modifying the quoted probabilities from their true values. However with some restrictions, or with certain modifications, it can…
Forecast reconciliation of multivariate time series is the process of mapping a set of incoherent forecasts into coherent forecasts to satisfy a given set of linear constraints. Commonly used projection matrix based approaches for point forecast reconciliation are OLS (ordinary least squares), WLS (weighted least squares), and MinT (minimum trace). Even though point forecast reconciliation is a well-established field of research, the literature on generating probabilistic forecasts subject to linear constraints is somewhat limited. Available methods follow a two-step procedure. Firstly, it dra…
Fixing the Pitfalls of Probabilistic Time-Series Forecasting Evaluation by Kernel Quadrature
Lattice Lab, Toyota Motor Corporation / Machine Learning Research Group, University of Oxford（丰田公司 lattice 实验室 / 机器学习研究组，牛津大学）；The University of Osaka / Lattice Lab, Toyota Motor Corporation / RIKEN AIP（大阪大学 / 丰田公司 lattice 实验室 / RIKEN AIP）；Machine Learning Research Group, University of Oxford（机器学习研究组，牛津大学）
Signature-Kernel Based Evaluation Metrics for Robust Probabilistic and Tail-Event Forecasting
School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK（信息学院，爱丁堡大学，爱丁堡，英国）；School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK（数学学院，爱丁堡大学，爱丁堡，英国）
Scoring rules assess the quality of probabilistic forecasts, by assigning a numerical score based on the predictive distribution and on the event or value that materializes. A scoring rule is proper if it encourages truthful reporting. It is local of order $k$ if the score depends on the predictive density only through its value and the values of its derivatives of order up to $k$ at the realizing event. Complementing fundamental recent work by Parry, Dawid and Lauritzen, we characterize the local proper scoring rules of order 2 relative to a broad class of Lebesgue densities on the real line,…
In data analysis, contamination caused by outliers is inevitable, and robust statistical methods are strongly demanded. In this paper, our concern is to develop a new approach for robust data analysis based on scoring rules. The scoring rule is a discrepancy measure to assess the quality of probabilistic forecasts. We propose a simple way of estimating not only the parameter in the statistical model but also the contamination ratio of outliers. Estimating the contamination ratio is important, since one can detect outliers out of the training samples based on the estimated contamination ratio. …
The theoretical advances on the properties of scoring rules over the past decades have broadened the use of scoring rules in probabilistic forecasting. In meteorological forecasting, statistical postprocessing techniques are essential to improve the forecasts made by deterministic physical models. Numerous state-of-the-art statistical postprocessing techniques are based on distributional regression evaluated with the Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS). However, theoretical properties of such evaluation with the CRPS have solely considered the unconditional framework (i.e. without covar…
