Exponential tilting in Bayesian asymptotics

Abstract

We use exponential tilting to obtain versions of asymptotic formulae for Bayesian computation that do not involve conditional maxima of the likelihood function, yielding a more stable computational procedure and significantly reducing computational time. In particular we present an alternative version of the Laplace approximation for a marginal posterior density. Implementation of the asymptotic formulae and a modified signed root based importance sampler are illustrated with an example. © 2016 Biometrika Trust.