The Model Selection Curse

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review: Insights
Year: 2019
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Pages: 127-40

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

A statistician takes an action on behalf of an agent, based on the agent's self-reported personal data and a sample involving other people. The action that he takes is an estimated function of the agent's report. The estimation procedure involves model selection. We ask the following question: Is truth-telling optimal for the agent given the statistician's procedure? We analyze this question in the context of a simple example that highlights the role of model selection. We suggest that our simple exercise may have implications for the broader issue of human interaction with machine learning algorithms.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aerins:v:1:y:2019:i:2:p:127-40
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29