Selection Consistency of Lasso-Based Procedures for Misspecified High-Dimensional Binary Model and Random Regressors

Abstract

We consider selection of random predictors for a high-dimensional regression problem with a binary response for a general loss function. An important special case is when the binary model is semi-parametric and the response function is misspecified under a parametric model fit. When the true response coincides with a postulated parametric response for a certain value of parameter, we obtain a common framework for parametric inference. Both cases of correct specification and misspecification are covered in this contribution. Variable selection for such a scenario aims at recovering the support of the minimizer of the associated risk with large probability. We propose a two-step selection Screening-Selection (SS) procedure which consists of screening and ordering predictors by Lasso method and then selecting the subset of predictors which minimizes the Generalized Information Criterion for the corresponding nested family of models. We prove consistency of the proposed selection method under conditions that allow for a much larger number of predictors than the number of observations. For the semi-parametric case when distribution of random predictors satisfies linear regressions condition, the true and the estimated parameters are collinear and their common support can be consistently identified. This partly explains robustness of selection procedures to the response function misspecification.