EM algorithm for generalized Ridge regression with spatial covariates

The generalized Ridge penalty is a powerful tool for dealing with multicollinearity and high-dimensionality in regression problems. The generalized Ridge regression can be derived as the mean of a posterior distribution with a Normal prior and a given covariance matrix. The covariance matrix controls the structure of the coefficients, which depends on the particular application. For example, it is appropriate to assume that the coefficients have a spatial structure when the covariates are spatially correlated. This study proposes an Expectation-Maximization algorithm for estimating generalized Ridge parameters whose covariance structure depends on specific parameters. We focus on three cases: diagonal (when the covariance matrix is diagonal with constant elements), Matérn, and conditional autoregressive covariances. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, and then the method is applied to predict ocean wave heights using wind conditions.