Two misunderstandings, frequently arising in Bayesian predictive inference, are discussed. The first deals with the data generating mechanism, while the second consists in overestimating the role played by asymptotic exchangeability. Some consequences of such misunderstandings are highlighted through examples.
Antonin Schrab, Rajen Shah, Arthur Gretton +1stat.ME cs.LG math.ST stat.ML
We study aggregation of statistical evidence under unknown and potentially complex dependence using group-invariance. Building on permutation-based constructions that treat transformed datasets as exchangeable units, we aggregate evidence across statistics for each transformed dataset and calibrate the resulting aggregates across transformations. We develop a finite-sample power and adaptivity theory for this framework, together with extensions to sequential and data-dependent aggregation that preserve validity. For single-batch aggregation, which uses one collection of transformed datasets for both standardization and calibration, we show that the critical values uniformly improve on deterministic calibrations valid under arbitrary dependence, including Bonferroni correction, while adapting to the unknown dependence structure. We also introduce a sequential alpha-spending version that permits early rejection when evidence is strong, and a two-batch extension that separates standardization from calibration to accommodate learned aggregation rules and reduce computation. Applications to adaptive nonparametric testing and conformal prediction illustrate how these results sharpen existing aggregation methods.
This paper extends classical conformal frameworks for constructing prediction intervals with global marginal coverage $1-α$ to intervals that provide explicitly calibrated guarantees for the upper and lower tails separately. Focusing on split conformal prediction, we first construct lower and upper one-sided conformal intervals that achieve marginal validity, and then derive the induced two-sided interval by intersection. Theoretical results prove both tail-specific and global marginal coverage of the induced two-sided interval. Results are presented first for the exchangeable setting, where coverage has finite-sample guarantees, and then for non-exchangeable data, where guarantees are asymptotic. Simulation studies show that the proposed approach achieves improved directional calibration relative to classical two-sided intervals, especially relevant in skewed data. Finally, the benefit of the proposed framework is showcased in a financial application, where one aims for return maximization while seeking strict control on the left tail.