Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / iii / Paper 28 / 1 / b / i / Solution

For a Poisson distribution of parameter $\lambda$, its probability generating function is $\exp \{\lambda (z-1)\}$. Applying the law of total expectation to the Poisson mixture givesThusFor $|z|\le 1$ the absolute value of the integrand is bounded by one, so this identity always exists as a Laplace transform of the positive mixing variable. An extension to $z>1$ requires the corresponding moment-generating function to be finite; the conditional computation itself does not guarantee positive exponential moments.