Abstract

 


 



Statistical Undecidability


Raphael Douady


Riskdata; CES Univ. Paris 1

Nassim Nicholas Taleb


NYU-Poly

October 12, 2010


Abstract:     
Using the metadistribution of possible distributions for a given measure, we define a condition under which it is possible to make a decision based on the observation of random variable, which we call "statistical decidability". We provide a sufficient condition on the metadistribution for the decision to be "statistically decidable" and conjecture that decisions based on a metadistribution with non compact support are always "statistically undecidable". There is the need for a strong undefeasable a priori without which decisions are not statistically justified - an effect that is very significant for decisions affected by small probabilities.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 4

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Date posted: October 14, 2010 ; Last revised: November 16, 2012

Suggested Citation

Douady, Raphael and Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, Statistical Undecidability (October 12, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1691165 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1691165

Contact Information

Raphael Douady
Riskdata ( email )
6, rue de l'Amiral Coligny
Paris, 75001
France
HOME PAGE: http://www.riskdata.com
CES Univ. Paris 1 ( email )
106 bv de l'Hôpital
Paris, 75013
France
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Contact Author)
NYU-Poly ( email )
Brooklyn, NY 11201
United States

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