A default prior distribution for contingency tables with dependent factor levels

A default prior distribution is proposed for the Bayesian analysis of contingency tables. The prior is specified to allow for dependence between levels of the factors. Different dependence structures are considered, including conditional autoregressive and distance correlation structures. To demonstrate the prior distribution, a dataset is considered which involves estimating the number of injecting drug users in the eleven National Health Service board regions of Scotland using an incomplete contingency table where the dependence structure relates to geographical regions.