English

Neyman-Pearson lemma for Bayes factors

Statistics Theory 2021-11-29 v1 Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability Methodology Statistics Theory

Abstract

We point out that the Neyman-Pearson lemma applies to Bayes factors if we consider expected type-1 and type-2 error rates. That is, the Bayes factor is the test statistic that maximises the expected power for a fixed expected type-1 error rate. For Bayes factors involving a simple null hypothesis, the expected type-1 error rate is just the completely frequentist type-1 error rate. Lastly we remark on connections between the Karlin-Rubin theorem and uniformly most powerful tests, and Bayes factors. This provides frequentist motivations for computing the Bayes factor and could help reconcile Bayesians and frequentists.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.15625,
  title  = {Neyman-Pearson lemma for Bayes factors},
  author = {Andrew Fowlie},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.15625},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

8 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-24T07:17:23.140Z