English

R2 priors for Grouped Variance Decomposition in High-dimensional Regression

Methodology 2025-07-28 v2 Applications Other Statistics

Abstract

We introduce the Group-R2 decomposition prior, a hierarchical shrinkage prior that extends R2-based priors to structured regression settings with known groups of predictors. By decomposing the prior distribution of the coefficient of determination R2 in two stages, first across groups, then within groups, the prior enables interpretable control over model complexity and sparsity. We derive theoretical properties of the prior, including marginal distributions of coefficients, tail behavior, and connections to effective model complexity. Through simulation studies, we evaluate the conditions under which grouping improves predictive performance and parameter recovery compared to priors that do not account for groups. Our results provide practical guidance for prior specification and highlight both the strengths and limitations of incorporating grouping into R2-based shrinkage priors.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.11833,
  title  = {R2 priors for Grouped Variance Decomposition in High-dimensional Regression},
  author = {Javier Enrique Aguilar and David Kohns and Aki Vehtari and Paul-Christian Bürkner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.11833},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

43 pages, 16 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T04:03:27.133Z