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The Rao-Blackwell theorem says that if $S$ is a sufficient statistic and $\delta$ a finite-variance estimator, then ${\delta }^{\ast }=\mathbb{E}(\delta \mid S)$ is an estimator with the same expectation and no larger variance. Sufficiency ensures the conditional distribution, and hence this formula as a function of the data, does not involve the unknown parameter. The tower property of conditional expectation gives $\mathbb{E}{\delta }^{\ast }=\mathbb{E}\delta$, while the law of total variance givesThis proves the theorem and shows that equality holds exactly when $\delta$ is already determined by $S$, almost surely. In particular, unbiasedness is preserved.

Assume $n\ge 3$. Independence gives $\mathbb{E}\hat{\theta }=p_0{p}_1{p}_2=\theta$, so the proposed indicator is unbiased and has variance $\theta (1-\theta )$. The type counts $S=(n_0,n_1,n_2)$ are a sufficient statistic: conditional on them, every ordering of the labels is equally likely. Consequently,For example, the conditional probability of the ordered first three labels is $(n_0/n)(n_1/(n-1))(n_2/(n-2))$. This is Rao-Blackwellization of a multinomial probability product.

If all three $p_i$ are positive, there is positive probability that all three counts are positive. On such an event the conditional indicator has probability strictly between zero and one, so its conditional variance is positive. Thus $\mathrm{Var}({\theta }^{\ast })<\theta (1-\theta )$ for interior parameter values. If any $p_i=0$, then $\theta =0$ and both estimators have zero variance; the printed strict inequality is impossible at those boundary parameters. The valid unrestricted statement is the non-strict inequality.

For an aggregate claims model, let $X$ denote one claim size, with expected value $\mu$ and variance ${\sigma }^2$. The total $S$ is zero when the claim count is zero. Given $N=n$, independence givesThe law of total expectation and law of total variance, together with $\mathbb{E}N=\mathrm{Var}(N)=\lambda$ for a Poisson distribution, implyThe raw second moment appears because the random count itself contributes $\lambda {\mu }^2$ to the variance.

Conditional on $N$, the moment-generating function of the sum is $M_X(t{)}^N$. Averaging with the Poisson distribution therefore gives the compound Poisson distribution transformThis is valid wherever $M_X(t)$ is finite. Finite first and second moments alone do not ensure positive exponential moments; for positive claims the corresponding Laplace transform always exists.

For the independent portfolios put $\Lambda ={\lambda }_1+{\lambda }_2>0$ and $w_i={\lambda }_i/\Lambda$. Their Poisson distribution counts add to a Poisson distribution with parameter $\Lambda$. By Poisson-multinomial conditioning, conditional on the total count $n$ the first risk count has a binomial distribution with parameters $n,w_1$, and the second is the remaining count. Thus one can generate the same total loss by drawing $n$ independent risk labels with these weights, then drawing each claim from its label's law. The merged severity has mixture distributionIt follows that $T$ has a compound Poisson distribution with count parameter $\Lambda$ and this severity law. This is the fixed-year version of Poisson superposition of insurance portfolios. Its expected value and variance areAlternatively, multiplying the two independent aggregate Laplace transforms yields $\exp \{\Lambda (w_1{M}_{X_1}(t)+w_2{M}_{X_2}(t)-1)\}$ wherever finite, confirming the same compound Poisson distribution.

For the retained compound Poisson aggregate under per-claim reinsurance, replace each claim $X$ by its retained payment $g(X)$. Assume the retention is measurable, with $0\le g(x)\le x$ as usual. The count parameter remains $\Lambda$, and the severity law is the pushforward measure of the mixture severity under $g$. Thus the retained compound Poisson aggregate $T_I$ has a compound Poisson distribution with that transformed severity andIts moment-generating function is $\exp \{{\sum }_i{\lambda }_i(M_{g(X_i)}(t)-1)\}$ on its finite domain. For a general retention $g$, zero retained payments can occur and are allowed as compound-Poisson marks; they may equivalently be removed by Poisson thinning. The two specified contracts retain strictly positive payments for strictly positive claims.

Write $m(\lambda )=\mathbb{E}(X_i\mid \lambda )$ and $v(\lambda )=\mathrm{Var}(X_i\mid \lambda )$. The Bühlmann model uses the finite structural parametersHere $v$ is the expected process variance and $a$ is the variance of hypothetical means. The target is the latent conditional mean $m(\lambda )$, rather than the realized next count. The Bühlmann credibility estimate is the best affine predictor of that target under mean squared error.

The law of total expectation and law of total variance give $\mathbb{E}{X}_i=m_0$ and $\mathrm{Var}(X_i)=v+a$. Conditional independence gives $\mathrm{Cov}(X_i,X_j\mid \lambda )=0$ for $i\ne j$, and the law of total covariance therefore yieldsTo derive the optimal predictor, consider $d=A+{\sum }_{i=1}^n{b}_i{X}_i$. Minimizing with respect to the intercept gives $A=m_0(1-{\sum }_i{b}_i)$. Thus $d=m_0+{\sum }_i{b}_i(X_i-m_0)$. The linear least-squares projection normal equations areFor $v>0$, subtraction of any two equations forces all $b_i$ equal. Substituting a common coefficient then gives $b_i=a/(v+na)$. Equivalently, the mean squared error of the centered predictor is $a-2a{\sum }_i{b}_i+v{\sum }_i{b}_i^2+a({\sum }_i{b}_i{)}^2$, a convex quadratic with precisely these normal equations. HenceThe ratio notation assumes $a>0$; the credibility factor formula $na/(na+v)$ also handles $a=0,v>0$. If $a=0$, the target is the constant $m_0$ almost surely. If $v=0,a>0$, one observation already equals $m(\lambda )$ almost surely, and the average gives it exactly. If both vanish, the target and observations are constant.

The result optimizes over affine functions of the observations. It need not equal the unrestricted posterior mean; exact Bayesian inference generally depends on the whole prior and likelihood, whereas the Bühlmann credibility estimate uses these second-moment structural parameters.

Write the year-$j$ count as a sum of its $m_j$ individual counts, with $m_j>0$. The specified conditional independence within that year givesDividing by $m_j$ and scaling the conditional variance by $m_j^{-2}$ therefore givesThis is the Bühlmann–Straub model: larger exposures reduce the process noise in a year's average.

Define the population parameters and total observed exposure byHere $v$ is the expected process variance and $a$ the variance of hypothetical means. Assume finite second moments. The law of total variance gives $\mathrm{Var}(X_j)=a+v/m_j$, and conditional independence between years gives $\mathrm{Cov}(X_j,X_k)=a$ for $j\ne k$: their only shared variation is the latent conditional mean.

To derive the Bühlmann–Straub credibility estimate, minimize mean squared error among affine estimates of $\mu (\Theta )$. For coefficients $b_j$ and $B={\sum }_j{b}_j$, the optimal intercept is $m_0(1-B)$. Centering at $m_0$ and conditioning on $\Theta$ shows that the resulting error isThe cross term vanishes because $X_j-\mu (\Theta )$ has conditional mean zero; the conditional noise cross terms vanish by the between-year independence assumption.

For fixed $B$, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality giveswith equality when $b_j=B{m}_j/W$. Minimize the remaining quadratic $a(1-B{)}^2+(v/W)B^2$. Its minimizing value is the Bühlmann–Straub credibility factorThe experience term is exposure-weighted:Since the future conditional mean count is $m_{n+1}\mu (\Theta )$, multiplying the optimal estimate by the known future exposure givesIt is the best affine linear least-squares projection, not a claim that the exact conditional expectation given all data is always affine. If $a=0$, the conditional mean is a known constant almost surely and one takes $Z=0$; if $v=0<a$, the observations reveal it without process noise and $Z=1$. The ordinary case has $a,v>0$.

Under missing completely at random, the observed second-year outcomes form a random subsample, so the direct pooled complete-case analysis estimate isIt is valid under missing completely at random because dropout no longer changes the marginal distribution of second-year use. Pooling is simpler than reporting separate conditional probabilities, but MCAR alone does not make this estimate more efficient than the estimate in the previous part. The fully observed first-year variable carries useful outcome information and can improve precision even when dropout is completely random.

To make the qualification explicit, write $X=Y_1$, $m(X)=P(Y_2=1\mid X)$, $\theta =E\{m(X)\}$ and $\rho =P(R=1)$ for the constant response probability. For $N$ patients the leading variance of the pooled estimator is $\mathrm{Var}(Y_2)/(N\rho )$. The standardization estimator in the preceding part has leading varianceIndeed its first-order centered contribution is $m(X)-\theta +R\{Y_2-m(X)\}/\rho$: the two terms have zero covariance, and their variances give that expression. The law of total variance therefore yieldsThe inequality is strict when there is dropout and first-year use predicts second-year use, as the distinct conditional rates suggest here. Thus the requested universal efficiency claim needs qualification. In the unrestricted joint binary-outcome model, maximizing the observed-data likelihood under either missing at random or missing completely at random gives the same standardization estimate $0.384889$: the all-patient first-year proportion and the two observed conditional second-year proportions maximize its factored outcome likelihood. Restricting the distinct missingness parameters to a common response probability affects their factor, not this estimate. The pooled value is the simple valid MCAR answer; retaining the first-year information gives the efficient MCAR answer and does not require replacing the previous estimate.

Conditional on $p_M$, the auxiliary binomial distribution gives $\mathbb{E}[X/n\mid p_M]=p_M$ and $\mathrm{Var}(X/n\mid p_M)=p_M(1-p_M)/n$. Thus large $n$ makes $X/n$ close to $p_M$. The law of total variance also givesThe latent variable encodes the first draw increasingly accurately.

The law of iterated expectation yieldsOne may obtain $\mathrm{Var}(p_T)=v$ either from its unchanged marginal distribution proved below or directly from the law of total variance: the variance of its conditional mean is $nv/(s+n)$ and its expected conditional variance is $sv/(s+n)$. Hence the correlation coefficient is exactlyAlso $\mathbb{E}[(p_T-p_M{)}^2]=2vs/(s+n)\to 0$. The two probabilities become close while keeping their original beta marginals.

To distinguish the random intensity from its possible values, write it as $\Lambda$. Its law is a gamma distribution with shape $2$ and rate $p/q$. HenceFor the Poisson mixture, conditional expectation and conditional variance both equal $\Lambda$. The law of total expectation and the law of total variance yieldwhere $p+q=1$. Applying the random sum of independent claims formulas with the exponential distribution of the claim sizes gives the portfolio B momentsAt the matched intensity ${\lambda }_0$, the expected value for portfolio A is also $2q\mu /p$, whereas its variance is $4q{\mu }^2/p$. Thus the expected totals agree, but mixing increases the variance:The extra term is precisely ${\mu }^2\mathrm{Var}(\Lambda )$.

Write $m_X=\mathbb{E}{X}_1$ and $v_X=\mathrm{Var}(X_1)$. For the random sum of independent claims, conditioning on $N$ givesThe law of total expectation and the law of total variance therefore give the aggregate momentsThe first term in the variance measures variation of the individual claims at a fixed count; the second measures variation of the count itself. These formulas require the indicated moments to be finite.

For the moment-generating function, independent random variables givewhere $G_N(z)=\mathbb{E}[z^N]$ is the probability generating function. This identity holds wherever the expectations are finite; in particular a moment-generating function need not exist for positive $t$ for an arbitrary positive claim distribution. The empty sum for $N=0$ is zero.

In the Bühlmann model, a latent risk parameter $\Theta$ is drawn from a population distribution. Conditional on $\Theta$, the yearly observations are independent and identically distributed random variables, with conditional expectation $m(\Theta )$ and conditional variance $v(\Theta )$. Define the structural parametersHere $v$ is the expected process variance, while $a$ is the variance of hypothetical means. The Bühlmann credibility premium is the best affine estimate of $m(\Theta )$ from the observed claims, under mean squared error. Predicting the next claim gives the same affine estimate: the extra conditional observation noise contributes the constant $v$ to the prediction error.

The law of total variance and conditional independence giveAn affine estimate can be written as $\hat{m}=m+{\sum }_{j=1}^n{b}_j(X_j-m)$: for any chosen $b_j$, optimizing the constant makes its expected value equal to $m$. The normal equations for the linear least-squares projection areFor $v>0$ they force all $b_i$ to agree, with $b_i=a/(v+na)$. Thus the credibility factor and premium areThe credibility factor increases with the observation count and between-risk variance, and decreases with within-risk variance. If $a=0$, the risk mean is known and $Z=0$; if $v=0$ and $a>0$, one observation reveals it and $Z=1$. If both vanish, the premium is the fixed value $m$ and the factor is immaterial.

In the specified model, the conditional law is a gamma distribution with shape $\alpha$ and scale $\theta$. ThereforeThe prior is an inverse-gamma distribution with shape $k$ and scale $\lambda$. To obtain its moments directly, substitute $y=\lambda /\theta$ in the defining integral, obtainingThe Gamma function recurrence yieldsThe assumption $k>2$ makes both structural variances finite. HenceIt follows that the model-specific credibility estimate is

For the Bayes estimator under squared error loss, the quantity to estimate is $\alpha \Theta$, so the optimum is its posterior mean. The likelihood function, viewed as a function of $\theta$, is proportional toMultiplication by the prior shows gamma scale inverse-gamma conjugacy:Although the printed hint only mentions integer shapes, the same substitution and Gamma integral normalize this posterior for every positive real shape, so no integrality of $\alpha$ is needed. Its posterior mean gives the Bayesian estimate and comparisonThis exact Bühlmann credibility for gamma claims holds for every observed sample, not merely on average. Here the posterior mean is affine in the sample mean, so the best affine Bühlmann credibility premium is also the unrestricted Bayes estimator under squared error loss.

The Rao-Blackwell theorem says that an unbiased finite-variance estimator $\delta (X)$ of a parameter function $\tau (\theta )$ can be improved using a sufficient statistic $T$. DefineBecause the conditional distribution given $T$ is parameter-independent, this is a statistic computable without knowing $\theta$. The tower property of conditional expectation gives ${\mathbb{E}}_{\theta }{\delta }^{\ast }={\mathbb{E}}_{\theta }\delta =\tau (\theta )$, so it remains unbiased. The law of total variance givesHence the improved estimator has no larger variance or mean squared error:Equality holds precisely when $\delta ={\delta }^{\ast }(T)$ almost surely under the relevant parameter. More generally, even without unbiasedness, conditional Jensen inequality shows that conditioning on a sufficient statistic cannot increase risk for any convex loss in the estimate, provided the expectations exist. The squared-loss result above is the usual variance form of the theorem.

The printed identity needs an expectation on its right-hand side. For fixed $r\ge 1$, condition on $X_2,\dots ,X_r$ and use independence of $X_1$:The expression inside this expectation is generally random and cannot equal the unconditional probability by itself.

For each independent Monte Carlo method replicate, draw $R_j$ from its given distribution. If $R_j=r\ge 1$, draw $r-1$ independent $F$-variables, form $W_j={\sum }_{i=2}^r{X}_{j,i}$ and set $H_j=F(x-W_j)$. For $r=1$ the empty sum is $0$. If $R$ may equal zero, use $H_j=1_{\{x\ge 0\}}$ when $R_j=0$, since $S_0=0$. The law of total expectation givesSince $0\le H_j\le 1$, the estimator has statistical consistency by the strong law of large numbers. It is the conditional Monte Carlo estimator obtained by Rao-Blackwellization of the direct indicator $1_{\{S_R\le x\}}$, and the law of total variance gives $\mathrm{Var}(H_j)\le l(1-l)$.

This version assumes that the cumulative distribution function $F$ can be evaluated. An easy sampler alone does not automatically supply an easy cumulative distribution function evaluation. If only sampling is available, use the direct indicator estimator, or replace each conditional cumulative distribution function by the average of several independent indicators $1_{\{X_{j,1,k}\le x-W_j\}}$; the nested version remains an unbiased estimator. With $L$ such inner draws its variance per outer replicate is $\mathrm{Var}(H_j)+L^{-1}E[H_j(1-H_j)]$.

The Rao-Blackwell theorem applies to an estimator $Y$ with finite second moment and a sufficient statistic $T$. The conditional estimator $Y^{\ast }={\mathbb{E}}_{\theta }[Y\mid T]$ can be chosen as a function of the observed $T$ that does not depend on the unknown parameter: this uses the parameter-independent conditional data distribution in the definition of sufficient statistic. The tower property of conditional expectation gives ${\mathbb{E}}_{\theta }{Y}^{\ast }={\mathbb{E}}_{\theta }Y$, so their bias agrees. The law of total variance givesFor any target $a(\theta )$ it follows thatEquality holds exactly when $Y=Y^{\ast }$ almost surely under that parameter value. This proves variance reduction and reduction of mean squared error, whether or not the original estimator is an unbiased estimator. More generally, conditional Jensen inequality proves the corresponding inequality for any convex loss in the estimate, whenever the expectations exist.

Introduce a latent Bernoulli distribution indicator $A_i$, with $A_i=1$ denoting a structural zero and $\mathrm{Pr}(A_i=1)=\pi$. Conditional on $A_i=0$, retain the negative binomial regression with ${\lambda }_i=e^{x_i^T\beta }$ and $x_i=(1,d_i{)}^T$. This gives a zero-inflated negative binomial model:A participant who fishes may still catch zero, so an observed zero does not reveal the latent class. This distinguishes zero inflation from a hurdle model, which truncates the count component at zero. The marginal expectation becomes $(1-\pi ){\lambda }_i$, and the law of total variance givesA constant $\pi$ is a parsimonious starting model. If there is evidence that nonparticipation changes with day or other recorded predictors, use logistic regression for ${\pi }_i$ instead. Conditional independence of visitors remains an assumption; extra zeros alone do not establish its validity.

Independence gives $\mathbb{E}E(Z)={\sum }_{z,y}F(y,z)\mathbb{P}(Y=y)\mathbb{P}(Z=z)=\mathbb{E}F(Y,Z)$. Moreover, $\mathbb{E}V(Z)=\mathbb{E}(F(Y,Z{)}^2)-\mathbb{E}(E(Z{)}^2)$, while $\mathrm{Var}E(Z)=\mathbb{E}(E(Z{)}^2)-(\mathbb{E}F(Y,Z){)}^2$. Adding proves the law of total variance

Write $\lambda ={\sigma }^2$, $v={\sigma }_0^2$, and $a=\sqrt{\rho }$. We keep the model's printed coefficient ${\sigma }^2{Z}_i$ literally. Its latent log odds can be writtenThe independence of the ${\theta }_i$ is conditional on $Z$: they are not marginally independent when the random effects $Z_i$ are correlated.

Holding the other predictors and the random-effect realization fixed, increasing predictor $j$ by one shifts the latent log odds by ${\beta }_j$, so it multiplies the conditional odds of a late departure by $e^{{\beta }_j}$. For a binary snow indicator, this compares the snow and no-snow days with other predictors held fixed. This is a conditional odds ratio, not generally the same as a marginal odds ratio after integrating the random effects.

Randomizing ${\theta }_i$ allows unmeasured daily conditions to change the success probability beyond the systematic linear predictor. In this logistic-normal regression with autoregressive random effects, let $P_i={\mathrm{logit}}^{-1}({\theta }_i)$ and ${\bar{p}}_i=\mathbb{E}[P_i]$. The law of total variance givesso the mixture allows overdispersion beyond a binomial distribution with fixed probability. The correlated part also allows related outcomes on nearby days.

The stationary autoregressive process of order one has $\mathrm{Var}(Z_i)=1$ and $\mathrm{Cov}(Z_i,Z_j)=a^{|i-j|}$. HenceThe ${\sigma }_0^2$ term is unstructured daily variability, whereas ${\sigma }^4$ is the temporally correlated component under the printed parameterization. Larger $\rho$ gives greater persistence: the lag-$h$ correlation of the latent log odds is ${\sigma }^4{\rho }^{h/2}/({\sigma }^4+{\sigma }_0^2)$.

The PDF itself prints both the coefficient ${\sigma }^2{Z}_i$ and the requested combination ${\sigma }^2+{\sigma }_0^2$. They are inconsistent as a marginal variance. If the intended coefficient were $\sigma Z_i$, the variance and off-diagonal covariance would instead be ${\sigma }^2+{\sigma }_0^2$ and ${\sigma }^2{\rho }^{|i-j|/2}$. The prior's argument list also repeats ${\sigma }^2$; its displayed density indicates the intended second variance parameter is ${\sigma }_0^2$.

There is a further substantive issue with that improper prior. After integrating the latent variables, the observed-data likelihood function is positive and continuous at $\lambda =0$ for fixed finite $\beta$, positive $v$, and $\rho \in (0,1)$. On a compact positive-volume set of those parameters it therefore has a positive lower bound for small $\lambda$. The prior density is $1/(\lambda v)$, so integrating over $\lambda$ gives ${\int }_0^{\epsilon }d\lambda /\lambda =\infty$. Thus the stated joint posterior distribution is improper, an instance of improper posterior from a log-uniform random-effect scale prior. The requested fixed-parameter conditional laws below are nevertheless proper; their existence does not remedy the joint impropriety.

Let $N$ be the input photoelectron count and $\mu =\eta Q$ its mean, with quantum efficiency $\eta$ and mean incident photon count $Q$. Independent arrivals give a Poisson distribution, so $\mathrm{Var}N=\mathbb{E}N=\mu$. Conditional on $N$, the preceding gamma distribution gives $\mathbb{E}[X\mid N]=gN$ and $\mathrm{Var}(X\mid N)=g^{2}N$. The law of total variance therefore yieldsOne contribution is the ordinary photon shot noise; the other is multiplication excess noise. Thus, neglecting read noise and backgrounds,This is an excess-noise factor $\sqrt{2}$ in analog operation: actual photon conversion efficiency has not been halved. At low occupancy, thresholding each pixel as zero or one event can avoid most multiplication noise, but high arrival rates produce coincident events that cannot be counted separately. That is why the high-rate result concerns charge measurement rather than ideal binary photon counting.

Immediately after departure $n$, either $Q_n>0$ and one of those customers starts the next service, or $Q_n=0$ and the next arrival both initiates service and is not counted among those waiting after it. During that service $A_n$ further customers arrive. Thus the embedded departure chain of an M-G-1 queue obeys

Conditional on the next service time $S_{n+1}=s$, the Poisson process property givesThe law of total expectation and law of total variance therefore giveand

In equilibrium let $Q$ have the common distribution of $Q_n,Q_{n+1}$ and put $H=1_{\{Q>0\}}=h(Q)$. The fresh pair $(A_n,S_{n+1})$ is independent of $Q_n$. Taking expectations in the recursion givesBecause $QH=Q$ and $H^2=H$, stationarity of the second moment givesSolving,

In stationarity, level crossing together with Poisson arrivals see time averages identifies this as the mean number $L$ in the shop. The Little law gives $L=\lambda (W_q+\mathbb{E}S)$, where $W_q$ is waiting time before service. Since $\rho =\lambda \mathbb{E}S$,This is the Pollaczek-Khinchine mean formula.

The Rao-Blackwell theorem states that if $T$ is sufficient and $U$ is an estimator with finite variance, thenhas the same expectation as $U$ and no larger variance; it preserves unbiasedness. The tower property of conditional expectation givesThe law of total variance givesSufficiency ensures that $U^{\ast }$ is a statistic whose definition does not depend on the unknown parameter. The inequality is strict exactly when the conditional variance is positive with positive probability.

Let $X_1,\dots ,X_N$ be independent with laws $p_1,\dots ,p_N$. We prove the claim by induction. Split the law of total variance at the last coordinate:The first term is at most $c_N^2\mathbb{E}|{\partial }_{N}f(X){|}^2$. Apply the induction hypothesis to $g(x_1,\dots ,x_{N-1})={\mathbb{E}}_{X_N}f(x_1,\dots ,x_{N-1},X_N)$. Differentiation under the expectation and Jensen inequality giveWriting $c={\max }_i{c}_i$ and combining the terms yieldsThis is the Tensorization of a Poincaré inequality.