A note on the difficulties associated with the analysis of capture-recapture experiments with heterogeneous capture probabilities

Richard Huggins

Statistics & Probability Letters, 2001, vol. 54, issue 2, 147-152

Abstract: A variety of methods have been proposed to estimate the size of a closed population non-parametrically using capture-recapture data when the capture probabilities are heterogeneous. None of the methods have been proven to be unbiased in all circumstances and in simulations they tend to perform well in some cases but poorly in others. Here we examine random effects models and conclude that if the capture probabilities are heterogeneous then without the imposition of conditions the population size is not identifiable. A necessary condition for identifiability is given, with the derivation of a sufficient condition remaining an open problem.

Keywords: Capture-recapture; experiment; Heterogeneous; capture; probabilities; Identifiability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-7152(00)00233-9
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:stapro:v:54:y:2001:i:2:p:147-152

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Statistics & Probability Letters is currently edited by Somnath Datta and Hira L. Koul

More articles in Statistics & Probability Letters from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().