Foundations of Info-Metrics: Modeling, Inference, and Imperfect Information

Product Description

Info-metrics is the science of modeling, reasoning, and drawing inferences under conditions of noisy and insufficient information. It is at the intersection of information theory, statistical inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. It plays an important role in helping make informed
decisions even when there is inadequate or incomplete information because it provides a framework to process available information with minimal reliance on assumptions that cannot be validated.

In this pioneering book, Amos Golan, a leader in info-metrics, focuses on unifying information processing, modeling and inference within a single constrained optimization framework.
Foundations of Info-Metrics provides an overview of modeling and inference, rather than a problem specific model, and
progresses from the simple premise that information is often insufficient to provide a unique answer for decisions we wish to make. Each decision, or solution, is derived from the available input information along with a choice of inferential procedure.

The book contains numerous multidisciplinary applications and case studies, which demonstrate the simplicity and generality of the framework in real world settings. Examples include initial diagnosis at an emergency room, optimal dose decisions, election forecasting, network and information
aggregation, weather pattern analyses, portfolio allocation, strategy inference for interacting entities, incorporation of prior information, option pricing, and modeling an interacting social system. Graphical representations illustrate how results can be visualized while exercises and problem sets
facilitate extensions. This book is this designed to be accessible for researchers, graduate students, and practitioners across the disciplines.

Review

“This book is a good mixture of theory and practical applications…The topics of the applications are well chosen; they represent contemporary tendencies in statistical science including a broad range of related subject material and interesting topics, from classical to modern. The tools and
techniques that are present here can be applied in various disciplines like finance, banking, economics, accounting, marketing, social and health sciences and even to areas like psychology, engineering, and medicine…As such, there are more than good reasons why it should be strongly recommended to
potential readers and users.” —
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

“Amos Golan is an acknowledged leader in the field of info-metrics, or better still, one of its originators. In writing this book, he has painfully put together a package that could turn out to be a trigger event in this new and evolving discipline…The work is an encyclopedic collection of
specifics and details, something which surpasses much that is currently available in the marketplace.” —
Technometrics

”
Info-metrics provides a unifying framework for inference and broadens the set of tools available to policy researchers.
Foundations of Info-Metrics is an engaging and accessible treatment full of applications that shows the strengths of the approach for situations where traditional methods may
struggle or are difficult to apply. More than 20 years since the development of maximum entropy econometrics, this book should attract new audiences to the ideas of info-metrics.”–
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

“It provides all the necessary tools and building blocks for using the info-metrics framework for solving problems, making decisions, and constructing models under incomplete information. The multidisciplinary applications provide a hands-on experience for the reader. That experience can be enhanced
via the exercises and problems at the end of each chapter.” —
Kathy Wolcott, MathSciNet

“Decision making under uncertainty is central to a number of different disciplines from neuro-science to psychology, sociology, politics and economics, and Dr. Golan provides a comprehen