Solved – “Bayesian and Frequentist Regression Methods” by Jon Wakefield, a good introductory Bayesian textbook for frequentist economics graduates

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Here's a link to a good question regarding Textbooks on Bayesian statistics from some time ago.

People suggested John Kruschke's "Doing Bayesian Data Analysis: A Tutorial Introduction with R and BUGS" as one of the best options to get an introduction to Bayesian statistics.
Meanwhile, a potentially interesting book called "Bayesian and Frequentist Regression Methods" by Jon Wakefield was released, which also provides code for R and BUGS.
Thus, they esentially both seem to cover the same topics.

Question 1: If you have read the book, would you recommend it to a frequentist economics masters graduate as both an introduction to Bayesian statstics and reference book for both frequentist and bayesian approaches?

Question 2: If you have read both Wakefield's and Kruschke's book, which one would you recommend better?

Best Answer

I definitely do not like Kruschke's book. I read it, worked out a lot of examples, but didn't understand anything about bayesian inference! As an introductory book about bayesian statistics, you could better look at Scott Lynch, Introduction to Applied Bayesian Statistics and Estimation for Social Scientists, or at Tony Lancaster, An Introduction to Modern Bayesian Econometrics.

Wakefield's book is a good choice. But, how could I say?, he describes bayesian inference more than explaining it, because his point of view is a neutral one: "Each of the frequentist and Bayesian approaches have their merits and can often be used in tandem." I do not agree... But it's my own point of view :-) If you are going to read it, be prepared: the field is biostatistics (dental growth, prostate cancer, etc.) Moreover, you could be not interested in GEE (econometricians use GMM) or in nonparametric modeling. However, you can get a sense of Wakefield's book by looking at his courses. For example, http://courses.washington.edu/b571/lectures/

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