Abstract: This paper describes and compares various hierarchical mixture prior formulations of variable selection uncertainty in normal linear regression models. These include the nonconjugate SSVS formulation of George and McCulloch (1993), as well as conjugate formulations which allow for analytical simplification. Hyperparameter settings which base selection on practical significance, and the implications of using mixtures with point priors are discussed. Computational methods for posterior evaluation and exploration are considered. Rapid updating methods are seen to provide feasible methods for exhaustive evaluation using Gray Code sequencing in moderately sized problems, and fast Markov Chain Monte Carlo exploration in large problems. Estimation of normalization constants is seen to provide improved posterior estimates of individual model probabilities and the total visited probability. Various procedures are illustrated on simulated sample problems and on a real problem concerning the construction of financial index tracking portfolios.

In principle, the Bayesian approach to model selection is straightforward. Prior probability distributions are used to describe the uncertainty surrounding all unknowns. After observing the data, the posterior distribution provides a coherent post data summary of the remaining uncertainty which is relevant for model selection. However, the practical implementation of this approach often requires carefully tailored priors and novel posterior calculation methods. In this article, we illustrate some of the fundamental practical issues that arise for two different model selection problems: the variable selection problem for the linear model and the CART model selection problem.

In this paper we introduce an approach and algorithms for model mixing in large prediction problems with correlated predictors. We focus on the choice of predictors in linear models, and mix over possible subsets of candidate predictors. Our approach is based on expressing the space of models in terms of an orthogonalization of the design matrix. Advantages are both statistical and computational. Statistically, orthogonalization often leads to a reduction in the number of competing models by eliminating correlations. Computationally, large model spaces cannot be enumerated; recent approaches are based on sampling models with high posterior probability via Markov chains. Based on orthogonalization of the space of candidate predictors, we can approximate the posterior probabilities of models by products of predictor-specific terms. This leads to an importance sampling function for sampling directly from the joint distribution over the model space, without resorting to Markov chains. Comp...

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The authors consider the problem of Bayesian variable selection for proportional hazards regression models with right censored data. They propose a semi-parametric approach in which a nonparametric prior is specified for the baseline hazard rate and a fully parametric prior is specified for the regression coe#cients. For the baseline hazard, they use a discrete gamma process prior, and for the regression coe#cients and the model space, they propose a semi-automatic parametric informative prior specification that focuses on the observables rather than the parameters. To implement the methodology, they propose a Markov chain Monte Carlo method to compute the posterior model probabilities. Examples using simulated and real data are given to demonstrate the methodology. R ESUM E Les auteurs abordent d'un point de vue bayesien le problemedelaselection de variables dans les modeles de regression des risques proportionnels en presence de censure a droite. Ils proposent une approche semi-p...

Specification of the linear predictor for a generalised linear model requires determining which variables to include. We consider Bayesian strategies for performing this variable selection. In particular we focus on approaches based on the Gibbs sampler. Such approaches may be implemented using the publically available software BUGS. We illustrate the methods using a simple example. BUGS code is provided in an appendix. 1 Introduction In a Bayesian analysis of a generalised linear model, model uncertainty may be incorporated coherently by specifying prior probabilities for plausible models and calculating posterior probabilities using f(mjy) = f(m)f(yjm) P m2M f(m)f(y jm) ; m 2 M (1.1) where m denotes the model, M is the set of all models under consideration, f (m) is the prior probability of model m and f (yjm; fi m ) the likelihood of the data y under model m. The observed data y contribute to the posterior model probabilities through f(yjm), the marginal likelihood calculated...

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For the problem of variable selection in generalized linear models, we develop various adaptive Bayesian criteria. Using a hierarchical mixture setup for model uncertainty, combined with an integrated Laplace approximation, we derive Empirical Bayes and Fully Bayes criteria that can be computed easily and quickly. The performance of these criteria is assessed via simulation and compared to other criteria such as AIC and BIC on normal, logistic and Poisson regression model classes. A Fully Bayes criterion based on a restricted region hyperprior seems to be the most promising.

1Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica. Dr. Sheng-cheng Hu has read our paper carefully and provided many useful suggestions which improves this paper greatly. We are grateful to him. We would also like to thank Professor Shu-In Liu for providing us the FORTRAN code, Peng Mok Tey and Shyh-Wei Chen The Asian financial crisis broke out in Thailand in July 1997, and rapidly spread throughout the neighboring countries. The crisis severely affected several Asian countries, like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea which not only had a sharp depreciation of their currencies but also had a negative economic growth in 1998 (see Table 1. Even Japan, having maintained stable