Quantifying and Mitigating Uncertainty: A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis in Machine Learning, Quantitative Finance, and Microeconomics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63282/3050-9262.IJAIDSML-V7I1P164Keywords:
Aleatoric Uncertainty, Bayesian Inference, Causal Inference, Double Machine Learning, Epistemic Uncer-tainty, Machine Learning, Explainability, Quantitative Finance, Reinforcement Learning, Stochastic VolatilityAbstract
The classification, quantification, and mitigation of uncertainty remain central challenges across data-driven disciplines. This paper formalizes the theoretical distinction between aleatoric (statistical noise) and epistemic (systemic ignorance) uncertainty. By establishing a unified mathematical framework, we explore their distinct impacts and mitigation strategies across three critical domains: quantitative finance, broad microeconomic market dynamics, and enterprise-scale machine learning. We demonstrate how advanced computational models—ranging from stochastic volatility modeling in derivatives to causal inference in economic interventions—are deployed to extract actionable signals from highly stochastic environments. Furthermore, we analyze the architectural requirements for minimizing epistemic uncertainty in production ML systems through real-time feature streaming and algorithmic explainability. By synthesizing Variational Inference, Double Machine Learning, and Shapley additive explanations, this paper provides a comprehensive blueprint for deploying robust algorithms in uncertain environments.
References
[1] E. Hu¨llermeier and W. Waegeman, “Aleatoric and epistemic uncertainty in machine learning: An introduction to concepts and methods,” Machine Learning, vol. 110, pp. 457–506, 2021.
[2] J. Pearl, Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, 2nd ed. Cam-bridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
[3] S. L. Heston, “A Closed-Form Solution for Options with Stochastic Volatility with Applications to Bond and Currency Options,” The Review of Financial Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 327–343, 1993.
[4] H. Markowitz, “Portfolio Selection,” The Journal of Finance, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 77–91, 1952.
[5] S. Athey and G. Imbens, “Machine Learning Methods that Economists Should Know About,” Annual Review of Economics, vol. 11, pp. 685–725, 2019.
[6] V. Chernozhukov et al., “Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters,” The Econometrics Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. C1–C68, 2018.
[7] S. M. Lundberg and S.-I. Lee, “A Unified Approach to Interpreting Model Predictions,” in Advances in Neural Information ProcessingSystems 30, 2017, pp. 4765–4774.
[8] F. H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
[9] C. E. Rasmussen and C. K. I. Williams, Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.
[10] C. Blundell, J. Cornebise, K. Kavukcuoglu, and D. Wierstra, “Weight Uncertainty in Neural Networks,” in Proceedings of the 32nd Interna-tional Conference on Machine Learning, 2015, pp. 1613–1622.










