{"paper":{"title":"How useful is a wrong model? Information-sharing for inference under mean misspecification in linear models","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["math.ST","stat.TH"],"primary_cat":"stat.ME","authors_text":"Emily C. Hector","submitted_at":"2026-07-10T16:29:09Z","abstract_excerpt":"As almost all models are wrong, a mean model's usefulness is often accepted as sufficient justification for its use. In practice, however, standard statistical theory breaks when the mean model fit is imperfect, limiting this usefulness. This tension between fit and usefulness arises from a dichotomization of model fit: the model is either right or it is wrong. Motivated by the linear regression framework, we propose an alternative viewpoint that leverages the mean model's usefulness without assuming it is right or wrong. We define a new model usefulness index and use it to share information a"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2607.09579","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2607.09579/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}