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Estimation, Evaluation, and Selection of Actuarial Models

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78 CHAPTER 4. MODEL EVALUATION AND SELECTION<br />

The total is χ 2 = 1.4034. With four degrees <strong>of</strong> freedom (6 rows minus 1 minus 1 estimated<br />

parameter) the critical value for a test at a 5% significance level is 9.4877 (this can be obtained<br />

with the Excel function CHIINV(.05,4)) <strong>and</strong> the p-value is 0.8436 (from CHIDIST(1.4034,4)). The<br />

exponential model is a good fit.<br />

For Data Set B censored at 1,000, the first interval is from 0—150 <strong>and</strong> the last interval is from<br />

1,000—∞. Unlike the previous two tests, the censored observations can be used for this test.<br />

Range ˆp Expected Observed χ 2<br />

0—150 0.1885 3.771 4 0.0139<br />

150—250 0.1055 2.110 3 0.3754<br />

250—500 0.2076 4.152 4 0.0055<br />

500—1,000 0.2500 5.000 4 0.2000<br />

1,000—∞ 0.2484 4.968 5 0.0002<br />

The total is χ 2 =0.5951. With three degrees <strong>of</strong> freedom (5 rows minus 1 minus 1 estimated<br />

parameter) the critical value for a test at a 5% significance level is 7.8147 <strong>and</strong> the p-value is 0.8976.<br />

The exponential model is a good fit.<br />

For Data Set C the groups are already in place. The results are given below.<br />

Range ˆp Expected Observed χ 2<br />

7,500—17,500 0.2023 25.889 42 10.026<br />

17,500—32,500 0.2293 29.356 29 0.004<br />

32,500—67,500 0.3107 39.765 28 3.481<br />

67,500—125,000 0.1874 23.993 17 2.038<br />

125,000—300,000 0.0689 8.824 9 0.003<br />

300,000—∞ 0.0013 0.172 3 46.360<br />

The test statistic is χ 2 =61.913. There are four degrees <strong>of</strong> freedom for a critical value <strong>of</strong> 9.488.<br />

The p-value is about 10 −12 . There is clear evidence that the exponential model is not appropriate.<br />

A more accurate test would combine the last two groups (because the expected count in the last<br />

group is less than 1). The group from 125,000 to infinity has an expected count <strong>of</strong> 8.997 <strong>and</strong> an<br />

observed count <strong>of</strong> 12 for a contribution <strong>of</strong> 1.002. The test statistic is now 16.552 <strong>and</strong> with three<br />

degrees <strong>of</strong> freedom the p-value is 0.00087. The test continues to reject the exponential model. ¤<br />

Exercise 82 Repeat the above example for the Weibull model.<br />

There is one important point to note about the tests in this Section. Suppose the sample size<br />

were to double, but sampled values weren’t much different (imagine each number showing up twice<br />

instead <strong>of</strong> once). For the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the test statistic would be unchanged, but the<br />

critical value would be smaller. For the Anderson-Darling <strong>and</strong> chi-square tests, the test statistic<br />

would double while the critical value would be unchanged. As a result, for larger sample sizes,<br />

it is more likely that the null hypothesis (<strong>and</strong> thus the proposed model) will be rejected. This<br />

should not be surprising. We know that the null hypothesis is false (it is extremely unlikely that<br />

a simple distribution using a few parameters can explain the complex behavior that produced the<br />

observations) <strong>and</strong> with a large enough sample size we will have convincing evidence <strong>of</strong> that truth.<br />

When using these tests we must remember that although all our models are wrong, some may be<br />

useful.

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