Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-37/6/i/d/solution

Apply the Monte Carlo estimator to the observable :
The theoretical justification is the ergodic theorem for a positive Harris recurrent Markov chain, not an independent-sample law of large numbers. The Markov chain has finite state space, is irreducible, and has the strictly positive posterior distribution as invariant law, so it is positive recurrent and Harris recurrent with counting measure. The observable is bounded: . Thus the estimator converges almost surely to the posterior expected value from any initial configuration.
Each state also has positive self-transition probability, so the chain is an aperiodic Markov chain. Finiteness then gives geometric convergence and the relevant central limit theorem; serial dependence determines the Markov chain Monte Carlo asymptotic variance if error bars are required. A fixed finite burn-in can be discarded without changing consistency, but independence of the retained states should not be assumed.

New to topics? Read the docs here!