Average conditional variance decreases with more information (source code)

= Average conditional variance decreases with more information
{title2=$\mathbb E\operatorname{Var}(X\mid\mathcal H)-\mathbb E\operatorname{Var}(X\mid\mathcal G)=\mathbb E[(m_{\mathcal G}-m_{\mathcal H})^2]\geq0$}

For <square-integrable> $X$ and nested information $\mathcal H\subseteq\mathcal G$, let $m_{\mathcal H}=\mathbb E[X\mid\mathcal H]$ and $m_{\mathcal G}=\mathbb E[X\mid\mathcal G]$. The predictor $m_{\mathcal H}$ is also $\mathcal G$-measurable, so the <conditional variance> error identity gives
$$
\mathbb E[\operatorname{Var}(X\mid\mathcal H)]-\mathbb E[\operatorname{Var}(X\mid\mathcal G)]=\mathbb E[(m_{\mathcal G}-m_{\mathcal H})^2]\geq0.
$$
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 $X=-4,0,4$ with equal probabilities, and learn only whether $X$ is zero. The unconditional <variance> is $32/3$. In the nonzero group, the <conditional variance> is $16$, which is larger; in the zero group it is zero. Their weighted average remains $(2/3)16+(1/3)0=32/3$. 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.