Conformal Prediction for Nonparametric Instrumental Regression

arXiv stat.ML / 3/27/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper introduces a conformal prediction approach to construct distribution-free prediction intervals for nonparametric instrumental variable regression (NPIV).
  • It provides finite-sample coverage guarantees by converting conditional coverage requirements into marginal coverage over a user-specified set of instrumental-variable (IV) shifts.
  • The method is designed to be estimator-agnostic, meaning it can be combined with many NPIV estimators, including sieve 2SLS and machine-learning-based variants such as neural-network methods.
  • The theoretical results establish distribution-free, finite-sample interval validity for a practitioner-chosen class of IV shifts.

Abstract

We propose a method for constructing distribution-free prediction intervals in nonparametric instrumental variable regression (NPIV), with finite-sample coverage guarantees. Building on the conditional guarantee framework in conformal inference, we reformulate conditional coverage as marginal coverage over a class of IV shifts \mathcal{F}. Our method can be combined with any NPIV estimator, including sieve 2SLS and other machine-learning-based NPIV methods such as neural networks minimax approaches. Our theoretical analysis establishes distribution-free, finite-sample coverage over a practitioner-chosen class of IV shifts.
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