# Diffuse priors Bayes Factor

In textbooks I always read that it is necessary to have a proper prior on the parameter that we want to test with Bayes factor, otherwise we would always posteriori favor the model with less parameters.

Why is this the case?

• Hi John, thanks for your question. Can you please clarify the points that we brought up in the comments to @RobinRyder's answer? We're confused about whether you mean to ask about improper/flat priors or just very wide/"diffuse" priors (that are still proper). Oct 5, 2018 at 16:20

The small model isn't necessarily favoured; rather, if you use an improper prior, the Bayes factor is not uniquely defined, because an improper prior is defined up to a multiplicative constant.

The Bayes factor is the ratio of the marginal likelihoods of your two models. With prior $$\pi$$ and likelihood $$L$$, you can write the marginal likelihood of a model as $$m(y)=\int \pi(\theta) L(\theta;x)d\theta.$$

If your prior is improper, nothing stops you from replacing $$\pi(\theta)$$ by $$K\cdot \pi(\theta)$$, thus multiplying the marginal likelihood by an arbitrary constant $$K$$. Thus your Bayes factor can take any value in $$\mathbb R_+$$.

This doesn't happen with proper priors: since they must integrate to 1, you cannot multiply them by $$K$$.

• I don't think the question was about using an improper prior, but just a very wide/diffuse prior. Oct 5, 2018 at 16:11
• @JakeWestfall - the OP does say "proper prior", not "diffuse prior". Oct 5, 2018 at 16:12
• @jbowman I guess it's ambiguous: the title says "diffuse" but the actual text talks about a "proper" prior. Certainly the conclusion that the OP mentioned is only valid in the case of wide/diffuse priors and not improper priors (as Robin rightly points out), which makes me think they mean to ask about wide/diffuse priors. But the OP should clarify. Oct 5, 2018 at 16:17
• @JakeWestfall - good points, both. Oct 5, 2018 at 16:18
• @JakeWestfall Ah yes, thanks for pointing that out. I focused on the text of the question; I hadn't noticed the discrepancy between the title and the text. You are right that my answer doesn't apply to a diffuse prior, only to an improper prior. Oct 5, 2018 at 19:59