Bayesian Statistics Seminar
North Carolina State University
presents
Dr. Dongchu Sun
University of Missouri
"The Formal Definition of Reference Priors"
ABSTRACT
Reference analysis produces objective Bayesian inference,
in the sense that inferential statements depend only on the assumed model
and the available data, and the prior distribution used to make an
inference is least informative in a certain information-theoretic sense.
Reference priors have been rigorously defined in specific
contexts and heuristically defined in general, but a rigorous
general definition has been lacking. We produce a rigorous general
definition here, and then show how an explicit expression for the
reference prior can be obtained under very weak regularity
conditions. The explicit expression can be used to derive new
reference priors both analytically and numerically.
Extension to multi-parameters will be discussed.
(Joint work with Jim Berger and Jose Bernardo.)
Thursday, Februrary, 25, 2010
4:00 - 5:00 pm
1216 Sas Hall