Poisson-gamma conjugacy ($\theta \mid x\sim \mathrm{Gamma}(r+{\sum }_i{x}_i,\lambda +n)$)

For conditionally independent Poisson observations of mean $\theta$ and a gamma distribution prior of shape $r>0$ and rate $\lambda >0$, the likelihood function contributes ${\theta }^{{\sum }_i{x}_i}{e}^{-n\theta }$. Multiplying by the prior density gives a posterior distribution with shape $r+{\sum }_i{x}_i$ and rate $\lambda +n$. The single-observation update is shape $r+X$ and rate $\lambda +1$.

The posterior mean is the convex combinationThus the prior mean $r/\lambda$ and the sample maximum-likelihood estimate $\bar{x}$ bracket it. Integrating the next conditional Poisson distribution against this posterior distribution gives the Poisson-gamma mixture, a negative binomial distribution; its spread includes uncertainty in $\theta$ as well as the conditional count variation.

If the positive baseline rate has a gamma distribution of shape $a$ and rate $b$, its logarithm has this probability density function with respect to $d\mu$. The extra factor $e^{\mu }$ is the Jacobian determinant of the transformation. After a Gibbs sampler draws the conditional baseline rate, taking its logarithm is an exact update of the intercept. Omitting the Jacobian changes the prior.

Given $\Theta$, independent observations $Y_j$ have Poisson distribution with means $m_j\Theta$ for known exposures. A gamma distribution prior of shape $\alpha$ and rate $\beta$ yields a gamma posterior with shape $\alpha +{\sum }_j{Y}_j$ and rate $\beta +{\sum }_j{m}_j$. The likelihood kernel is ${\theta }^{{\sum }_j{Y}_j}{e}^{-\theta {\sum }_j{m}_j}$. Thus the posterior mean depends on total claims and total exposure, not the number of periods alone.