Bayesian Interval Estimation of Tobit Regression Model

The Bayesian method can be applied successfully to the estimation of the censored regression model introduced by Tobin (1958). The Bayes estimates show improvements over the maximum likelihood estimate; however, the performance of the Bayesian interval estimation is questionable. In Bayesian paradigm, the prior distribution usually reflects personal beliefs about the parameters. Such subjective priors will typically yield interval estimators with poor frequentist properties; however, an objective noninformative often yields a Bayesian procedure with good frequentist properties. We examine the performance of frequentist properties of noninformative priors for the Tobit regression model.