Hierarchical sparsity priors for regression models

Abstract: We focus on the increasingly important area of sparse regression problems where there are many variables and the effects of a large subset of these are negligible. This paper describes the construction of hierarchical prior distributions when the effects are considered related. These priors allow dependence between the regression coefficients and encourage related shrinkage towards zero of different regression coefficients. The properties of these priors are discussed and applications to linear models with interactions and generalized additive models are used as illustrations. Ideas of heredity relating different levels of interaction are encompassed.