Information Matrix

I'm a statistician so I worry about standard errors just as much as I worry about point estimates. My blog Up close and intimate with the APCI model looked at the effect of different constraints on parameter estimates in models of mortality. This blog looks at the effect of constraints on the standard errors of the parameter estimates.

Our paper, "A stochastic implementation of the APCI model for mortality projections", was presented at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in October 2017. There was quite a discussion of the role of constraints in the fitting and forecasting of models of mortality. This got me wondering if constraints weren't in fact a red herring. This blog is a short introduction to the results of my investigation into the role, or indeed the non-role, of constraints in modelling and forecasting mortality.