For square-integrable and nested information , let and . The predictor is also -measurable, so the conditional variance error identity gives
More information cannot increase the average best squared prediction error. Equality holds exactly when the two conditional means agree almost surely; additional information can change the conditional distribution without changing its mean.
This is an averaged statement. Take with equal probabilities, and learn only whether is zero. The unconditional variance is . In the nonzero group, the conditional variance is , which is larger; in the zero group it is zero. Their weighted average remains . Both groups have conditional mean zero, so the extra information has not improved squared-error prediction, even though it has revealed whether the outcome is extreme or central. An individual group's conditional variance need not decrease.

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