Usually, when I give a course on GLMs, I try to insist on the fact that the link function is probably more important than the distribution. In order to illustrate, consider the following dataset, with 5 observations

x = c(1,2,3,4,5) y = c(1,2,4,2,6) base = data.frame(x,y)

Then consider several model, with various distributions, and either an identity link (and in that case $\mathbb{E}[Y|\mathbf{X}=\mathbf{x}]=\mathbf{x}^T\mathbf{\beta}$) or a log link function (so that $\mathbb{E}[Y|\mathbf{X}=\mathbf{x}]=e^{\mathbf{x}^T\mathbf{\beta}}$)

regNId = glm(y~x,family=gaussian(link="identity"),data=base) regNlog = glm(y~x,family=gaussian(link="log"),data=base) regPId = glm(y~x,family=poisson(link="identity"),data=base) regPlog = glm(y~x,family=poisson(link="log"),data=base) regGId = glm(y~x,family=Gamma(link="identity"),data=base) regGlog = glm(y~x,family=Gamma(link="log"),data=base) regIGId = glm(y~x,family=inverse.gaussian(link="identity"),data=base) regIGlog = glm(y~x,family=inverse.gaussian(link="log"),data=base

One can also consider some Tweedie distribution, to be even more general

library(statmod) regTwId = glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=1.5,link.power=1),data=base) regTwlog = glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=1.5,link.power=0),data=base)

Consider the prediction obtained in the first case, with the linear link function

library(RColorBrewer) darkcols = brewer.pal(8, "Dark2") plot(x,y,pch=19) abline(regNId,col=darkcols[1]) abline(regPId,col=darkcols[2]) abline(regGId,col=darkcols[3]) abline(regIGId,col=darkcols[4]) abline(regTwId,lty=2)

The predictions are very very close, aren’t they ? In the case of the exponential prediction, we obtain

plot(x,y,pch=19) u=seq(.8,5.2,by=.01) lines(u,predict(regNlog,newdata=data.frame(x=u),type="response"),col=darkcols[1]) lines(u,predict(regPlog,newdata=data.frame(x=u),type="response"),col=darkcols[2]) lines(u,predict(regGlog,newdata=data.frame(x=u),type="response"),col=darkcols[3]) lines(u,predict(regIGlog,newdata=data.frame(x=u),type="response"),col=darkcols[4]) lines(u,predict(regTwlog,newdata=data.frame(x=u),type="response"),lty=2)

We can actually look closer. For instance, in the linear case, consider the slope obtained with a Tweedie model (that will include all the parametric familes mentioned here, actually)

pente=function(gamma) summary(glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=gamma,link.power=1),data=base))$coefficients[2,1:2] Vgamma = seq(-.5,3.5,by=.05) Vpente = Vectorize(pente)(Vgamma) plot(Vgamma,Vpente[1,],type="l",lwd=3,ylim=c(.965,1.03),xlab="power",ylab="slope") The slope here is always very very close to one ! Even more if we add a confidence interval plot(Vgamma,Vpente[1,]) lines(Vgamma,Vpente[1,]+1.96*Vpente[2,],lty=2) lines(Vgamma,Vpente[1,]-1.96*Vpente[2,],lty=2) Heuristically, for the Gamma regression, or the Inverse Gaussian one, because the variance is a power of the prediction, if the prediction is small (here on the left), the variance should be small. So, on the left of the graph, the error should be small with a higher power for the variance function. And that’s indeed what we observe here erreur=function(gamma) predict(glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=gamma,link.power=1),data=base),newdata=data.frame(x=1),type="response")-y[x==1] Verreur = Vectorize(erreur)(Vgamma) plot(Vgamma,Verreur,type="l",lwd=3,ylim=c(-.1,.04),xlab="power",ylab="error") abline(h=0,lty=2) Of course, we can do the same with the exponential models pente=function(gamma) summary(glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=gamma,link.power=0),data=base))$coefficients[2,1:2] Vpente = Vectorize(pente)(Vgamma) plot(Vgamma,Vpente[1,],type="l",lwd=3)

or, if we add the confidence bands, we obtain

plot(Vgamma,Vpente[1,],ylim=c(0,.8),type="l",lwd=3,xlab="power",ylab="slope") lines(Vgamma,Vpente[1,]+1.96*Vpente[2,],lty=2) lines(Vgamma,Vpente[1,]-1.96*Vpente[2,],lty=2)

So here also, the “slope” is rather similar… And if we look at the error we make on the left part of the graph, we obtain

erreur=function(gamma) predict(glm(y~x,family=tweedie(var.power=gamma,link.power=0),data=base),newdata=data.frame(x=1),type="response")-y[x==1] Verreur = Vectorize(erreur)(Vgamma) plot(Vgamma,Verreur,type="l",lwd=3,ylim=c(.001,.32),xlab="power",ylab="error")

So my point is that the distribution is usually not the most important point on GLMs, even if chapters of books on GLMs are distribution based… But as mentioned in an another post, if you consider a nonlinear transformation, like we have with GAMs, the story is more complicated…

# I Fought the (distribution) Law (and the Law did not win)

A few days ago, I was asked if we should spend a lot of time to choose the distribution we use, in GLMs, for (actuarial) ratemaking. On that topic, I usually claim that the family is not the most important parameter in the regression model. Consider the following dataset

> db <- data.frame(x=c(1,2,3,4,5),y=c(1,2,4,2,6))
> plot(db,xlim=c(0,6),ylim=c(-1,8),pch=19)

To visualize a regression model, use the following code

> nd=data.frame(x=seq(0,6,by=.1))
+ prd1=predict(reg,newdata=nd,se.fit = TRUE,type="response")
+ y1=prd1$fit + y1_upp=prd1$fit+prd1$residual.scale*1.96* prd1$se.fit
+ y1_low=prd1$fit-prd1$residual.scale*1.96*
prd1$se.fit + polygon(c(nd$x,rev(nd$x)),c(y1_upp, rev(y1_low)),col="light green",angle=90, density=40,border=NA) + lines(nd$x,y1,col="red",lwd=2)
+ }

For instance, with a Poisson regression (with a log link function) we get

> plot(db)
+ data=db)


while, with a Gaussian regresion (but still with a log link function), we get

> plot(db)
+ data=db)
> add_predict(reg2)

If we just care about the expected value of our prediction, the output is more or less the same

> plot(db)
> lines(nd$x,predict(reg1,newdata=nd, + type="response"),col="red",lwd=1.5) > lines(nd$x,predict(reg2,newdata=nd,
+ type="response"),col="blue",lwd=1.5)

So, indeed, forget about the (distribution) law when running a GLM. Not convinced? Consider – on the same dataset – a Poisson regression (with an identity link function this time)

> plot(db)
+ data=db)


while, with a Gaussian regresion (but still with an identity link function), we get

> plot(db)
+ data=db)
> add_predict(reg2)

Again, if we just plot the expected value of our prediction, the output is more or less the same

> plot(db)
> lines(nd$x,predict(reg1,newdata=nd, + type="response"),col="red",lwd=1.5) > lines(nd$x,predict(reg2,newdata=nd,
+ type="response"),col="blue",lwd=1.5)

So clearly, the simplistic message you should not care too much about the (distribution) law seems to be valid…

# GLM, non-linearity and heteroscedasticity

Last week in the non-life insurance course, we’ve seen the theory of the Generalized Linear Models, emphasizing the two important components

• the link function (which is actually the key component in predictive modeling)
• the distribution, or the variance function

Just to illustrate, consider my favorite dataset

­lin.mod = lm(dist~speed,data=cars)

A linear model means here

$Y_i=\beta_0+\beta_1 X_i +\varepsilon_i$

where the residuals are assumed to be centered, independent, and with identical variance. If we visualize that linear regression, we usually see something like that

The idea here (in GLMs) is to assume

$Y\vert X=x\sim\mathcal{N}( \beta_0+\beta_1 x,\sigma^2)$

which will produce the same model as the one describe previously, based on some error term. That model can be visualized below,

attach(cars)
n=2
X= cars$speed Y=cars$dist
df=data.frame(X,Y)
vX=seq(min(X)-2,max(X)+2,length=n)
vY=seq(min(Y)-15,max(Y)+15,length=n)
mat=persp(vX,vY,matrix(0,n,n),zlim=c(0,.1),theta=-30,ticktype ="detailed", box = FALSE)
x=seq(min(X),max(X),length=501)
C=trans3d(x,predict(reggig,newdata=data.frame(X=x),type="response"),rep(0,length(x)),mat)
lines(C,lwd=2)
sdgig=sqrt(summary(reggig)$dispersion) x=seq(min(X),max(X),length=501) y1=qnorm(.95,predict(reggig,newdata=data.frame(X=x),type="response"), sdgig) C=trans3d(x,y1,rep(0,length(x)),mat) lines(C,lty=2) y2=qnorm(.05,predict(reggig,newdata=data.frame(X=x),type="response"), sdgig) C=trans3d(x,y2,rep(0,length(x)),mat) lines(C,lty=2) C=trans3d(c(x,rev(x)),c(y1,rev(y2)),rep(0,2*length(x)),mat) polygon(C,border=NA,col="yellow") C=trans3d(X,Y,rep(0,length(X)),mat) points(C,pch=19,col="red") n=8 vX=seq(min(X),max(X),length=n) mgig=predict(reggig,newdata=data.frame(X=vX)) sdgig=sqrt(summary(reggig)$dispersion)
for(j in n:1){
stp=251
x=rep(vX[j],stp)
y=seq(min(min(Y)-15,qnorm(.05,predict(reggig,newdata=data.frame(X=vX[j]),type="response"), sdgig)),max(Y)+15,length=stp)
z0=rep(0,stp)
z=dnorm(y, mgig[j], sdgig)
C=trans3d(c(x,x),c(y,rev(y)),c(z,z0),mat)
polygon(C,border=NA,col="light blue",density=40)
C=trans3d(x,y,z0,mat)
lines(C,lty=2)
C=trans3d(x,y,z,mat)
lines(C,col="blue")}

We do have two parts here: the linear increase of the average, $\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=x)=\beta_0+\beta_1 x$ and the constant variance of the normal distribution $\text{Var}(Y\vert X=x)=\sigma^2$.

On the other hand, if we assume a Poisson regression,

poisson.reg = glm(dist~speed,data=cars,family=poisson(link="log"))

we have something like

This time, two things have changed simultaneously: our model is no longer linear, it is an exponential one $\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=x)=e^{\beta_0+\beta_1 x}$, and the variance is also increasing with the explanatory variable $\text{Var}(Y\vert X=x)=e^{\beta_0+\beta_1 x}$, since with a Poisson regression,

$Y\vert X=x\sim\mathcal{P}(e^{ \beta_0+\beta_1 x})$

If we adapt the previous code, we get

The problem is that we changed two things when we introduced the Poisson regression from the linear model. So let us look at what happens when we change the two components independently. First, we can change the link function, with a Gaussian model but this time a multiplicative model (with a logarithm link function)

gaussian.reg = glm(dist~speed,data=cars,family=gaussian(link="log"))

which is still, here, an homoscedasctic model, but this time non-linear. Or we can change the link function in the Poisson regression, to get a linear model, but heteroscedastic

poisson.lin = glm(dist~speed,data=cars,family=poisson(link="identity"))

So this is basically what GLMs are about….