每日简报

同根异叶：面板数据中的时间序列与横截面方法AI 解读

A central goal in social science is to evaluate the causal effect of a policy. One dominant approach is through panel data analysis in which the behaviors of multiple units are observed over time. The information across time and space motivates two general approaches: (i) horizontal regression (i.e., unconfoundedness), which exploits time series patterns, and (ii) vertical regression (e.g., synthetic controls), which exploits cross-sectional patterns. Conventional wisdom…

无序多值处理的工具变量：理论与专业学习收益证据AI 解读

We revisit the identification argument of Kirkeboen et al. (2016) who showed how one may combine instruments for multiple unordered treatments with information about individuals' ranking of these treatments to achieve identification while allowing for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity in treatment effects. We show that the key assumptions underlying their identification argument have testable implications. We also provide a new characterization of the bias that may…

稀疏机制变化假说下异质环境中的因果发现AI 解读

Machine learning approaches commonly rely on the assumption of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data. In reality, however, this assumption is almost always violated due to distribution shifts between environments. Although valuable learning signals can be provided by heterogeneous data from changing distributions, it is also known that learning under arbitrary (adversarial) changes is impossible. Causality provides a useful framework for modeling distribution…

多处理臂及析因实验中的协变量调整AI 解读

Randomized experiments are the gold standard for causal inference, and justify simple comparisons across treatment groups. Regression adjustment provides a convenient way to incorporate covariate information for additional efficiency. This article provides a unified account of its utility for improving estimation efficiency in multi-armed experiments. We start with the commonly used additive and fully interacted models for regression adjustment, and clarify the trade-offs…

有序结果与二元中介变量的精确中介分析AI 解读

With reference to a single mediator context, this brief report presents a model-based strategy to estimate counterfactual direct and indirect effects when the response variable is ordinal and the mediator is binary. Postulating a logistic regression model for the mediator and a cumulative logit model for the outcome, the exact parametric formulation of the causal effects is presented, thereby extending previous work that only contained approximated results. The…

基于递归间距乘积的拟合优度检验AI 解读

We introduce a new statistical test based on the observed spacings of ordered data. The statistic is sensitive to detect non-uniformity in random samples, or short-lived features in event time series. Under some conditions, this new test can outperform existing ones, such as the well known Kolmogorov-Smirnov or Anderson-Darling tests, in particular when the number of samples is small and differences occur over a small quantile of the null hypothesis distribution. A detailed…

scpi：合成控制方法的不确定性量化AI 解读

The synthetic control method offers a way to quantify the effect of an intervention using weighted averages of untreated units to approximate the counterfactual outcome that the treated unit(s) would have experienced in the absence of the intervention. This method is useful for program evaluation and causal inference in observational studies. We introduce the software package scpi for prediction and inference using synthetic controls, implemented in Python, R, and Stata. For…

非参数工具变量模型的有效估计：多种神经网络估计量比较AI 解读

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can be viewed as nonlinear sieves that can approximate complex functions of high dimensional variables more effectively than linear sieves. We investigate the performance of various ANNs in nonparametric instrumental variables (NPIV) models of moderately high dimensional covariates that are relevant to empirical economics. We present two efficient procedures for estimation and inference on a weighted average derivative (WAD): an…

多项 Probit 模型的快速变分贝叶斯方法AI 解读

The multinomial probit model is often used to analyze choice behaviour. However, estimation with existing Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods is computationally costly, which limits its applicability to large choice data sets. This paper proposes a variational Bayes method that is accurate and fast, even when a large number of choice alternatives and observations are considered. Variational methods usually require an analytical expression for the unnormalized posterior…

非参数模型下分回合部分可观测马尔可夫决策过程的离策略评估AI 解读

We study the problem of off-policy evaluation (OPE) for episodic Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) with continuous states. Motivated by the recently proposed proximal causal inference framework, we develop a non-parametric identification result for estimating the policy value via a sequence of so-called V-bridge functions with the help of time-dependent proxy variables. We then develop a fitted-Q-evaluation-type algorithm to estimate V-bridge functions…

贝叶斯因果推断：批判性综述AI 解读

This paper provides a critical review of the Bayesian perspective of causal inference based on the potential outcomes framework. We review the causal estimands, identification assumptions, the general structure of Bayesian inference of causal effects, and sensitivity analysis. We highlight issues that are unique to Bayesian causal inference, including the role of the propensity score, definition of identifiability, the choice of priors in both low and high dimensional…

分布函数结果的因果推断AI 解读

Understanding causal relationships is one of the most important goals of modern science. So far, the causal inference literature has focused almost exclusively on outcomes coming from the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^p$. However, it is increasingly common that complex datasets are best summarized as data points in non-linear spaces. In this paper, we present a novel framework of causal effects for outcomes from the Wasserstein space of cumulative distribution functions, which…

通过收缩先验控制非高斯过程的灵活性AI 解读

The normal inverse Gaussian (NIG) and generalized asymmetric Laplace (GAL) distributions can be seen as skewed and semi-heavy-tailed extensions of the Gaussian distribution. Models driven by these more flexible noise distributions are then regarded as flexible extensions of simpler Gaussian models. Inferential procedures tend to overestimate the degree of non-Gaussianity in the data and therefore we propose controlling the flexibility of these non-Gaussian models by adding…

多向聚类依赖下的算法子抽样AI 解读

This paper proposes a novel method of algorithmic subsampling (data sketching) for multiway cluster dependent data. We establish a new uniform weak law of large numbers and a new central limit theorem for the multiway algorithmic subsample means. Consequently, we discover an additional advantage of the algorithmic subsampling that it allows for robustness against potential degeneracy, and even non-Gaussian degeneracy, of the asymptotic distribution under multiway clustering.…

具有有限样本保证的简明通用去偏机器学习定理AI 解读

Debiased machine learning is a meta algorithm based on bias correction and sample splitting to calculate confidence intervals for functionals, i.e. scalar summaries, of machine learning algorithms. For example, an analyst may desire the confidence interval for a treatment effect estimated with a neural network. We provide a nonasymptotic debiased machine learning theorem that encompasses any global or local functional of any machine learning algorithm that satisfies a few…

基于矩阵分布的联合寿命建模AI 解读

Acyclic phase-type (PH) distributions have been a popular tool in survival analysis, thanks to their natural interpretation in terms of ageing towards its inevitable absorption. In this paper, we consider an extension to the bivariate setting for the modelling of joint lifetimes. In contrast to previous models in the literature that were based on a separate estimation of the marginal behavior and the dependence structure through a copula, we propose a new time-inhomogeneous…

分数过程导数向分数布朗运动导数的弱收敛AI 解读

It is well known that, under suitable regularity conditions, the normalized fractional process with fractional parameter $d$ converges weakly to fractional Brownian motion for $d>1/2$. We show that, for any non-negative integer $M$, derivatives of order $m=0,1,\dots,M$ of the normalized fractional process with respect to the fractional parameter $d$, jointly converge weakly to the corresponding derivatives of fractional Brownian motion. As an illustration we apply the…

将随机试验的生存处理效应推广至目标总体的双重稳健估计AI 解读

In the presence of heterogeneity between the randomized controlled trial (RCT) participants and the target population, evaluating the treatment effect solely based on the RCT often leads to biased quantification of the real-world treatment effect. To address the problem of lack of generalizability for the treatment effect estimated by the RCT sample, we leverage observational studies with large samples that are representative of the target population. This paper concerns…

删失结局的随机化检验：重新理解 Logrank 检验AI 解读

Two-sample tests with censored outcomes are a classical topic in statistics with wide use even in cutting edge applications. There are at least two modes of inference used to justify two-sample tests. One is usual superpopulation inference assuming that units are independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) samples from some superpopulation; the other is finite population inference that relies on the random assignments of units into different groups. When randomization…

网络、面板及其他结局矩阵的异质性处理效应AI 解读

We are interested in the distribution of treatment effects for an experiment where units are randomized to a treatment but outcomes are measured for pairs of units. For example, we might measure risk sharing links between households enrolled in a microfinance program, employment relationships between workers and firms exposed to a trade shock, or bids from bidders to items assigned to an auction format. Such a double randomized experimental design may be appropriate when…

不完整数据下动态因子模型的最大后验估计AI 解读

In this paper, we present a method of maximum a posteriori estimation of parameters in dynamic factor models with incomplete data. We extend maximum likelihood expectation maximization iterations by Bańbura & Modugno (2014) to penalized counterparts by applying parameter shrinkage in a Minnesota prior style fashion, also considering factors loading onto variables dynamically. A heuristic and adapting shrinkage scheme is considered. The algorithm is applicable to any…

任意缺失数据下动态因子模型的变分推断AI 解读

Dynamic factor models are often estimated by point-estimation methods, disregarding parameter uncertainty. We propose a method accounting for parameter uncertainty by means of posterior approximation, using variational inference. Our approach allows for any arbitrary pattern of missing data, including different sample sizes and mixed frequencies. It also yields a straight-forward estimation algorithm absent of time-consuming simulation techniques. In empirical examples using…

利用变分推断选择载荷的稀疏动态因子模型AI 解读

In this paper we develop a novel approach for estimating large and sparse dynamic factor models using variational inference, also allowing for missing data. Inspired by Bayesian variable selection, we apply slab-and-spike priors onto the factor loadings to deal with sparsity. An algorithm is developed to find locally optimal mean field approximations of posterior distributions, which can be obtained computationally fast, making it suitable for nowcasting and frequently…

协变量不平衡趋零且协变量数量增长时的再随机化AI 解读

Completely randomized experiments have been the gold standard for drawing causal inference because they can balance all potential confounding on average. However, they may suffer from unbalanced covariates for realized treatment assignments. Rerandomization, a design that rerandomizes the treatment assignment until a prespecified covariate balance criterion is met, has recently got attention due to its easy implementation, improved covariate balance and more efficient…