Title
Bayesian estimation for a mixture of simplex distributions with an unknown number of components: HDI analysis in Brazil
Date Issued
04 July 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
University of São Paulo
Publisher(s)
Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Abstract
Variables taking value in (0, 1), such as rates or proportions, are frequently analyzed by researchers, for instance, political and social data, as well as the Human Development Index (HDI). However, sometimes this type of data cannot be modeled adequately using a unique distribution. In this case, we can use a mixture of distributions, which is a powerful and flexible probabilistic tool. This manuscript deals with a mixture of simplex distributions to model proportional data. A fully Bayesian approach is proposed for inference which includes a reversible-jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedure. The usefulness of the proposed approach is confirmed by using of the simulated mixture data from several different scenarios and by using the methodology to analyze municipal HDI data of cities (or towns) in the Northeast region and São Paulo state in Brazil. The analysis shows that among the cities in the Northeast, some appear to have a similar HDI to other cities in São Paulo state.
Start page
1630
End page
1643
Volume
44
Issue
9
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Estadísticas, Probabilidad
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84982261366
Source
Journal of Applied Statistics
ISSN of the container
02664763
Sponsor(s)
The first author thanks the support of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus