Conditional Forecasts and Proper Scoring Rules for Reliable and Accurate Performative Predictions

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2510.21335v1
• Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:59:21 GMT
• Title: Conditional Forecasts and Proper Scoring Rules for Reliable and Accurate Performative Predictions
• Authors: Philip Boeken, Onno Zoeter, Joris M. Mooij,
• Abstract summary: We show that conditioning forecasts on covariables that separate them from the outcome renders the target distribution forecast-invariant.<n>We identify two solutions: (i) in decision-theoretic settings, elicitation of correct and incentive-compatible forecasts is possible if forecasts are separating; (ii) scoring with unbiased estimates of the divergence between the forecast and the induced distribution of the target variable yields correct forecasts.<n>Our results expose fundamental limits of classical forecast evaluation and offer new tools for reliable and accurate forecasting in performative settings.
• Score: 1.1087735229999816
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Performative predictions are forecasts which influence the outcomes they aim to predict, undermining the existence of correct forecasts and standard methods of elicitation and estimation. We show that conditioning forecasts on covariates that separate them from the outcome renders the target distribution forecast-invariant, guaranteeing well-posedness of the forecasting problem. However, even under this condition, classical proper scoring rules fail to elicit correct forecasts. We prove a general impossibility result and identify two solutions: (i) in decision-theoretic settings, elicitation of correct and incentive-compatible forecasts is possible if forecasts are separating; (ii) scoring with unbiased estimates of the divergence between the forecast and the induced distribution of the target variable yields correct forecasts. Applying these insights to parameter estimation, conditional forecasts and proper scoring rules enable performatively stable estimation of performatively correct parameters, resolving the issues raised by Perdomo et al. (2020). Our results expose fundamental limits of classical forecast evaluation and offer new tools for reliable and accurate forecasting in performative settings.

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