x
27

Feb

2018

Everything Points to Poisson

Written by: Angus Macdonald

 
 

One recurring theme in our forthcoming book, Modelling Mortality with Actuarial Applications, is the all-pervading role of likelihoods that suggest the lurking presence of a Poisson distribution.  A popular assumption in modelling hazard rates is that the number of deaths observed at any given age is a Poisson random variable, so perhaps that might explain it?  Surprisingly, it is the other way round — it is the very nature of the data in a survival model that leads inexorably to the Poisson distribution, even if we assume no such thing.

Check out the rest of the blog post here

Want to find out more about the book? Take a look at our website and co-author Iain Currie’s post Mortality By The Book

Enjoyed reading this article? Share it today:

About the Author: Angus Macdonald

Angus S. Macdonald is Professor of Actuarial Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He is an actuary with much experience of modeling mortality and other life histories, particularly in connection with genetics, and as a member of Continuous Mortality Investigation committees....

View the Author profile >
 

Latest Comments

Have your say!