Optimal Decision Rules when Payoffs are Partially Identified
Abstract
We derive asymptotically optimal statistical decision rules for discrete choice problems when payoffs depend on a partially-identified parameter and the decision maker can use a point-identified parameter to deduce restrictions on . Examples include treatment choice under partial identification and pricing with rich unobserved heterogeneity. Our notion of optimality combines a minimax approach to handle the ambiguity from partial identification of given with an average risk minimization approach for . We show how to implement optimal decision rules using the bootstrap and (quasi-)Bayesian methods in both parametric and semiparametric settings. We provide detailed applications to treatment choice and optimal pricing. Our asymptotic approach is well suited for realistic empirical settings in which the derivation of finite-sample optimal rules is intractable.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2204.11748,
title = {Optimal Decision Rules when Payoffs are Partially Identified},
author = {Timothy Christensen and Hyungsik Roger Moon and Frank Schorfheide},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.11748},
year = {2025}
}