每日简报

无需凸性：光滑矩条件模型的估计AI 解读

Generalized and Simulated Method of Moments are often used to estimate structural Economic models. Yet, it is commonly reported that optimization is challenging because the corresponding objective function is non-convex. For smooth problems, this paper shows that convexity is not required: under conditions involving the Jacobian of the moments, certain algorithms are globally convergent. These include a gradient-descent and a Gauss-Newton algorithm with appropriate choice of…

合成工具变量：从稀疏关联到稀疏因果效应AI 解读

In many observational studies, researchers are often interested in studying the effects of multiple exposures on a single outcome. Standard approaches for high-dimensional data such as the lasso assume the associations between the exposures and the outcome are sparse. These methods, however, do not estimate the causal effects in the presence of unmeasured confounding. In this paper, we consider an alternative approach that assumes the causal effects in view are sparse. We…

利用非高斯性与辅助协变量识别因果效应AI 解读

Assessing causal effects in the presence of unmeasured confounding is challenging. Although auxiliary variables, such as instrumental variables, are commonly used to identify causal effects, they are often unavailable in practice due to stringent and untestable conditions. To address this issue, previous researches have utilized linear structural equation models to show that the causal effect is identifiable when noise variables of the treatment and outcome are both…

替代与互补关系模式的检验和识别AI 解读

This paper studies semiparametric identification of substitution and complementarity patterns between two goods using a panel multinomial choice model with bundles. The model allows the two goods to be either substitutes or complements and admits heterogeneous complementarity through observed characteristics. I first provide testable implications for the complementarity relationship between goods. I then characterize the sharp identified set for the model parameters and…

匹配机器学习：基于学习度量的处理效应推断框架AI 解读

We introduce Matched Machine Learning, a framework that combines the flexibility of machine learning black boxes with the interpretability of matching, a longstanding tool in observational causal inference. Interpretability is paramount in many high-stakes application of causal inference. Current tools for nonparametric estimation of both average and individualized treatment effects are black-boxes that do not allow for human auditing of estimates. Our framework uses machine…

通过因果边际问题界定致因概率AI 解读

Probabilities of Causation play a fundamental role in decision making in law, health care and public policy. Nevertheless, their point identification is challenging, requiring strong assumptions such as monotonicity. In the absence of such assumptions, existing work requires multiple observations of datasets that contain the same treatment and outcome variables, in order to establish bounds on these probabilities. However, in many clinical trials and public policy evaluation…

推进不变因果学习算法在观测数据中的应用AI 解读

Machine learning can benefit from causal discovery for interpretation and from causal inference for generalization. In this line of research, a few invariant learning algorithms for out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization have been proposed by using multiple training environments to find invariant relationships. Some of them are focused on causal discovery as Invariant Causal Prediction (ICP), which finds causal parents of a variable of interest, and some directly provide a…

批次式多臂老虎机的渐近展开AI 解读

In bandit algorithms, the randomly time-varying adaptive experimental design makes it difficult to apply traditional limit theorems to off-policy evaluation of the treatment effect. Moreover, the normal approximation by the central limit theorem becomes unsatisfactory for lack of information due to the small sample size of the inferior arm. To resolve this issue, we introduce a backwards asymptotic expansion method and prove the validity of this scheme based on the partial…

将预测模型与因果效应估计相连接AI 解读

A predictive model makes outcome predictions based on some given features, i.e., it estimates the conditional probability of the outcome given a feature vector. In general, a predictive model cannot estimate the causal effect of a feature on the outcome, i.e., how the outcome will change if the feature is changed while keeping the values of other features unchanged. This is because causal effect estimation requires interventional probabilities. However, many real world…

多层结局缺失下整群随机试验的边际处理效应估计AI 解读

Analyses of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) can be complicated by informative missing outcome data. Methods such as inverse probability weighted generalized estimating equations have been proposed to account for informative missingness by weighting the observed individual outcome data in each cluster. These existing methods have focused on settings where missingness occurs at the individual level and each cluster has partially or fully observed individual outcomes. In the…

双组高斯 DAG-probit 模型中的贝叶斯因果推断AI 解读

We consider modeling a binary response variable together with a set of covariates for two groups under observational data. The grouping variable can be the confounding variable (the common cause of treatment and outcome), gender, case/control, ethnicity, etc. Given the covariates and a binary latent variable, the goal is to construct two directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), while sharing some common parameters. The set of nodes, which represent the variables, are the same for…

调查数据中的惩罚似然推断AI 解读

This paper extends three Lasso inferential methods, Debiased Lasso, $C(α)$ and Selective Inference to a survey environment. We establish the asymptotic validity of the inference procedures in generalized linear models with survey weights and/or heteroskedasticity. Moreover, we generalize the methods to inference on nonlinear parameter functions e.g. the average marginal effect in survey logit models. We illustrate the effectiveness of the approach in simulated data and…

平均处理效应卡尺匹配估计量的渐近理论AI 解读

Caliper matching is used to estimate causal effects of a binary treatment from observational data by comparing matched treated and control units. Units are matched when their propensity scores, the conditional probability of receiving treatment given pretreatment covariates, are within a certain distance called caliper. So far, theoretical results on caliper matching are lacking, leaving practitioners with ad-hoc caliper choices and inference procedures. We bridge this gap…

协变量驱动观测下边际结构模型的四重稳健估计AI 解读

Electronic health records and other sources of observational data are increasingly used for drawing causal inferences. The estimation of a causal effect using these data not meant for research purposes is subject to confounding and irregular covariate-driven observation times affecting the inference. A doubly-weighted estimator accounting for these features has previously been proposed that relies on the correct specification of two nuisance models used for the weights. In…

结果缺失下网络研究的溢出效应评估AI 解读

Estimating causal effects in the presence of spillover among individuals embedded within a social network is often challenging with missing information. The spillover effect is the effect of an intervention if a participant is not exposed to the intervention themselves but is connected to intervention recipients in the network. In network-based studies, outcomes may be missing due to the administrative end of a study or participants being lost to follow-up due to study…

产业园区的影响：中国国家高新区政策的证据AI 解读

Based on the statistical yearbook data and related patent data of 287 cities in China from 2000 to 2020, this study regards the policy of establishing the national high-tech zones as a quasi-natural experiment. Using this experiment, this study firstly estimated the treatment effect of the policy and checked the robustness of the estimation. Then the study examined the heterogeneity in different geographic demarcation of China and in different city level of China. After…

事件发生时间数据的函数型因果推断AI 解读

Functional data is a powerful tool for capturing and analyzing complex patterns and relationships in a variety of fields, allowing for more precise modeling, visualization, and decision-making. For example, in healthcare, functional data such as medical images can help doctors make more accurate diagnoses and develop more effective treatment plans. However, understanding the causal relationships between functional predictors and time-to-event outcomes remains a challenge. To…

CIMLA：用于差异因果网络推断的可解释人工智能AI 解读

The discovery of causal relationships from high-dimensional data is a major open problem in bioinformatics. Machine learning and feature attribution models have shown great promise in this context but lack causal interpretation. Here, we show that a popular feature attribution model estimates a causal quantity reflecting the influence of one variable on another, under certain assumptions. We leverage this insight to implement a new tool, CIMLA, for discovering…

直接督导治疗对结核病疗效的影响：贝叶斯多层方法AI 解读

We propose and discuss a Bayesian procedure to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) for multilevel observations in the presence of confounding. We focus on situations where the confounders may be latent (e.g., spatial latent effects). This work is motivated by an interest in determining the causal impact of directly observed therapy (DOT) on the successful treatment of Tuberculosis (TB); the available data correspond to individual-level information observed across…

普通最小特征值估计量AI 解读

We propose a rate optimal estimator for the linear regression model on network data with interacted (unobservable) individual effects. The estimator achieves a faster rate of convergence $N$ compared to the standard estimators' $\sqrt{N}$ rate and is efficient in cases that we discuss. We observe that the individual effects alter the eigenvalue distribution of the data's matrix representation in significant and distinctive ways. We subsequently offer a correction for the…

非线性面板数据模型的共同相关效应估计AI 解读

This paper focuses on estimating the coefficients and average partial effects of observed regressors in nonlinear panel data models with interactive fixed effects, using the common correlated effects (CCE) framework. The proposed two-step estimation method involves applying principal component analysis to estimate latent factors based on cross-sectional averages of the regressors in the first step, and jointly estimating the coefficients of the regressors and factor loadings…

核处理效应的高效双重稳健检验AI 解读

The average treatment effect, which is the difference in expectation of the counterfactuals, is probably the most popular target effect in causal inference with binary treatments. However, treatments may have effects beyond the mean, for instance decreasing or increasing the variance. We propose a new kernel-based test for distributional effects of the treatment. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first kernel-based, doubly-robust test with provably valid type-I error.…

存在未测混杂时中间变量的因果效应AI 解读

We present new results on average causal effects in settings with unmeasured exposure-outcome confounding. Our results are motivated by a class of estimands, e.g., frequently of interest in medicine and public health, that are currently not targeted by standard approaches for average causal effects. We recognize these estimands as queries about the average causal effect of an intervening variable. We anchor our introduction of these estimands in an investigation of the role…

电厂排放控制政策的环境正义影响：二部网络干扰下的异质因果效应估计AI 解读

Emissions generators, such as coal-fired power plants, are key contributors to air pollution and thus environmental policies to reduce their emissions have been proposed. Furthermore, marginalized groups are exposed to disproportionately high levels of this pollution and have heightened susceptibility to its adverse health impacts. As a result, robust evaluations of the heterogeneous impacts of air pollution regulations are key to justifying and designing maximally…