A generalization of the Binomial distribution based on the dependence ratio

Abstract

We propose a generalization of the Binomial distribution, called DR-Binomial, which accommodates dependence among units through a model based on the dependence ratio (Ekholm et al., Biometrika, 82, 1995, 847). Properties of the DR-Binomial are discussed, and the constraints on its parameter space are studied in detail. Likelihood-based inference is presented, using both the joint and profile likelihoods; the usefulness of the DR-Binomial in applications is illustrated on a real dataset displaying negative unit-dependence, and hence under-dispersion compared with the Binomial. Although the DR-Binomial turns out to be a reparameterization of Altham's Additive-Binomial and Kupper-Haseman's Correlated-Binomial distribution, we believe its introduction is useful, both in terms of interpretability and mathematical tractability and in terms of generalizability to the Multinomial case.