Estimation of a beta shape parameter 2026-10-25
For an independent statistical sample from the beta distribution with parameters , , the probability density function is on . Its raw moments are for , by direct integration. Consequently the method of moments gives , whereas the maximum-likelihood estimator is .
The second formula follows by setting the score function to zero; its derivative is negative. Also has an exponential distribution of rate , since . The central limit theorem and delta method giveThus the asymptotic relative efficiency of relative to is . The transformed sum has a gamma distribution of shape and rate , which also gives for and for .
The sample mean is . The method of moments equates this to the expected value from part (b):Hence the estimate is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 27 3 Solution 2026-10-14
A credibility factor is the weight assigned to a particular risk's observed experience when blending it with a population or manual premium. In the Bühlmann model, the blend is the best affine mean-square predictor, rather than automatically the full posterior mean.
Let , the expected process variance, and assume the displayed second moments are finite. The law of total expectation gives . The law of total variance and law of total covariance giveFor the second formula, the conditional covariance is zero by conditional independence, while the covariance of the conditional means is , the variance of hypothetical means. Likewisebecause .
To derive the Bühlmann credibility premium, minimize . Differentiating in sets the predictor's mean to . The remaining normal equations areFor , subtracting any two rows forces all to be equal, then gives . Thus the premium and factor areThe same affine premium predicts : conditional independence makes , so minimizers agree. If , every year's amount equals almost surely, and gives the exact risk mean even though the coefficient vector need not be unique.
For fixed , . Thus more within-risk variation decreases credibility: individual experience becomes less informative, as , and the premium tends to . Increasing the number of observed years has the opposite effect.
For numerical estimation from a balanced panel, assume the risks are independent draws from the same risk population, with comparable exposures, and . SetConditionally, each within-risk sample variance has mean ; hence . The risk sample means have variance , so . Therefore is an unbiased method of moments estimate of . For a usable nonnegative variance estimate take , noting that this truncation sacrifices exact unbiasedness.
The balanced-panel method-of-moments credibility estimate for risk is consequentlyIf and , use zero credibility. If both estimates are zero, the within and between sums of squares are zero and all the observed amounts coincide; any blend gives that same premium. With only one year per risk or only one risk, these within/between estimators are unavailable, so external structural estimates or additional assumptions are necessary.
For the beta distribution with parameters , the Euler beta function gives . Its probability density function is therefore on . Direct integration gives the raw momentsIn particular, its mean is . Equating this to the sample mean and rearranging givesThe observations lie strictly between zero and one with probability one, so and this method of moments estimator is well defined and positive. This is an instance of estimation of a beta shape parameter.