ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Generalized empirical likelihood

Generalized empirical likelihood is a way of making decisions about things when we don't know all the answers but we have some information that we think is important. It's like when we try to guess what's in a box just by touching the outside or hearing a noise coming from inside.

So, let's say we have some data about a group of people, like their ages, incomes, and where they live. We might not know for sure how all of these things are related, but we can use the generalized empirical likelihood method to make educated guesses.

First, we take our data and put it into a mathematical equation that helps us see patterns and relationships. This is like sorting all of our toys into different categories based on their colors or shapes.

Next, we use the information we have to make estimates about things we don't know. For example, we might use the ages and incomes of people in our data set to guess how much money someone else with a different age might make.

The generalized empirical likelihood method helps us make these guesses by weighing different factors based on how important we think they are. So, if we know that income is more important than age when it comes to predicting how much money someone makes, we can give income a higher weight in our equation.

Finally, we test out our guesses to see how accurate they are. This is like trying to put a puzzle together and checking if the pieces fit properly. If our guesses don't work out, we go back to the equation and adjust things to make it better.

Overall, generalized empirical likelihood is a useful tool for making educated guesses about things based on the information we have. It helps us make sense of complex data and use it to make informed decisions.