Bayesian Outlier Detection for Matrix-variate Models

Abstract: Bayes Factor (BF) is one of the tools used in Bayesian analysis for model selection. The predictive BF finds application in detecting outliers, which are relevant sources of estimation and forecast errors. An efficient framework for outlier detection is provided and purposely designed for large multidimensional datasets. Online detection and analytical tractability guarantee the procedure's efficiency. The proposed sequential Bayesian monitoring extends the univariate setup to a matrix--variate one. Prior perturbation based on power discounting is applied to obtain tractable predictive BFs. This way, computationally intensive procedures used in Bayesian Analysis are not required. The conditions leading to inconclusive responses in outlier identification are derived, and some robust approaches are proposed that exploit the predictive BF's variability to improve the standard discounting method. The effectiveness of the procedure is studied using simulated data. An illustration is provided through applications to relevant benchmark datasets from macroeconomics and finance.