每日简报

重访伯克利录取数据：因果假设的统计检验AI 解读

Reasoning about fairness through correlation-based notions is rife with pitfalls. The 1973 University of California, Berkeley graduate school admissions case from Bickel et. al. (1975) is a classic example of one such pitfall, namely Simpson's paradox. The discrepancy in admission rates among males and female applicants, in the aggregate data over all departments, vanishes when admission rates per department are examined. We reason about the Berkeley graduate school…

用立方体方法重新审视实验随机化AI 解读

We introduce a new randomization procedure for experiments based on the cube method, which achieves near-exact covariate balance. This ensures compliance with standard balance tests and allows for balancing on many covariates, enabling more precise estimation of treatment effects using pre-experimental information. We derive theoretical bounds on imbalance as functions of sample size and covariate dimension, and establish consistency and asymptotic normality of the resulting…

面板数据估计与推断：同质性与异质性AI 解读

In this paper, we define an underlying data generating process that allows for different magnitudes of cross-sectional dependence, along with time series autocorrelation. This is achieved via high-dimensional moving average processes of infinite order (HDMA($\infty$)). Our setup and investigation integrates and enhances homogenous and heterogeneous panel data estimation and testing in a unified way. To study HDMA($\infty$), we extend the Beveridge-Nelson decomposition to a…

无需饱和设定的非参数“丰富协变量”方法AI 解读

We consider two nonparametric approaches to ensure that linear instrumental variables estimators satisfy the rich-covariates condition emphasized by Blandhol et al. (2025), even when the instrument is not unconditionally randomly assigned and the model is not saturated. Both approaches start with a nonparametric estimate of the expectation of the instrument conditional on the covariates, and ensure that the rich-covariates condition is satisfied either by using as the…

高频事件研究中因果效应的识别与估计AI 解读

We provide precise conditions for nonparametric identification of causal effects by high-frequency event study regressions, which have been used widely in the recent macroeconomics, financial economics and political economy literatures. The high-frequency event study method regresses changes in an outcome variable on a measure of unexpected changes in a policy variable in a narrow time window around an event or a policy announcement (e.g., a 30-minute window around an FOMC…

摆脱截断与删失限制的学习框架及其处理效应应用AI 解读

Time-to-event outcomes are often subject to left truncation and right censoring. While many survival analysis methods have been developed to handle truncation and censoring, majority of the past works require strong independence assumptions. We relax these stringent assumptions through leveraging covariate information together with orthogonal learning, and develop a liberating framework from left truncation and right censoring so that desirable properties like double…

分布式保密数据上的条件平均处理效应估计AI 解读

The estimation of conditional average treatment effects (CATEs) is an important topic in many scientific fields. CATEs can be estimated with high accuracy if data distributed across multiple parties are centralized. However, it is difficult to aggregate such data owing to confidentiality or privacy concerns. To address this issue, we propose data collaboration double machine learning, a method for estimating CATE models using privacy-preserving fusion data constructed from…

无需可逆性的生产函数估计：不完全竞争环境与需求冲击AI 解读

We advance the proxy variable approach to production function estimation. We show that the invertibility assumption at its heart is testable. We characterize what goes wrong if invertibility fails and what can still be done. We show that rethinking how the estimation procedure is implemented either eliminates or mitigates the bias that arises if invertibility fails. In particular, a simple change to the first step of the estimation procedure provides a first-order bias…

混杂变量缺失时点暴露因果推断方法的模拟比较AI 解读

Causal inference methods based on electronic health record (EHR) databases must simultaneously handle confounding and missing data. Vast scholarship exists aimed at addressing these two issues separately, but surprisingly few papers attempt to address them simultaneously. In practice, when faced with simultaneous missing data and confounding, analysts may proceed by first imputing missing data and subsequently using outcome regression or inverse-probability weighting (IPW)…

社会关系扰动政策的识别AI 解读

Social disruption occurs when a policy creates or destroys many network connections between agents. It is a costly side effect of many interventions and so a growing empirical literature recommends measuring and accounting for social disruption when evaluating the welfare impact of a policy. However, there is currently little work characterizing what can actually be learned about social disruption from data in practice. In this paper, we consider the problem of identifying…

协变量调整的二元因果发现框架AI 解读

Ascertaining causal direction from observational data is a fundamental challenge in scientific inquiry. Of particular interest is the problem of covariate-adjusted bivariate causal discovery, i.e., determining the causal direction between X and Y in the presence of Z. While unadjusted bivariate causal discovery has seen significant advances (Hoyer et al., 2008; Ni, 2022), there is a lack of methodology dealing with real-world bivariate relationships, which are often…

随机化检验的自适应样本分割AI 解读

Randomization tests are widely used to generate finite-sample valid $p$-values for causal inference on experimental data. However, when applied to subgroup analysis, these tests may lack power due to small subgroup sizes. Incorporating a shared estimator of the conditional average treatment effect (CATE) can substantially improve power across subgroups but requires sample splitting to preserve validity. To this end, we quantify each unit's contribution to estimation and…

多维网络的动态随机区块模型AI 解读

The availability of relational data can offer new insights into the functioning of the economy. Nevertheless, modeling the dynamics in network data with multiple types of relationships is still a challenging issue. Stochastic block models provide a parsimonious and flexible approach to network analysis. We propose a new stochastic block model for multidimensional networks, where layer-specific hidden Markov-chain processes drive the changes in community formation. The…

构造 g-computation 估计量：选择偏差的两个案例AI 解读

G-computation is a useful estimation method that can be adapted to address various biases in epidemiology. However, these adaptations may not be obvious for some complex causal structures. This challenge is an example of the much wider issue of translating a causal diagram into a novel estimation strategy. To highlight these challenges, we consider two recent cases from the selection bias literature: treatment-induced selection and co-occurrence of biases that lack a joint…

用于过程追踪与其他单案例研究的 p 值AI 解读

We introduce a method for calculating \(p\)-values to test causal hypotheses in qualitative research \emph{a la} process tracing. As in an experiment, our \(p\)-value tells us how often one would make the same or more compelling observations favoring one theory while entertaining a rival theory. We adapt Fisher's (1935) randomization-based urn model to the reality of qualitative researchers, who cannot randomize history, but can make observations about historical processes.…

光遗传学的非参数因果推断：动态方案中的序贯偏离效应AI 解读

Optogenetics is a powerful neuroscience technique for studying how neural circuit manipulation affects behavior. Standard analysis conventions discard information and severely limit the scope of the causal questions that can be probed. To address this gap, we 1) draw connections to the causal inference literature on sequentially randomized experiments, 2) propose a non-parametric framework for analyzing "open-loop" (static regime) optogenetics behavioral experiments, 3)…

非正态变换模型下的协变量调整边际推断AI 解读

Although treatment effects can be estimated from observed outcome distributions obtained from proper randomization in clinical trials, covariate adjustment is recommended to increase precision. For important treatment effects, such as odds or hazard ratios, conditioning on covariates in binary logistic or proportional hazards models changes the interpretation of the treatment effect and conditioning on different sets of covariates renders the resulting effect estimates…

随时有效的线性模型推断与随机实验中的回归调整因果推断AI 解读

Linear models are foundational tools in statistics and ubiquitous across the applied sciences. However, conventional statistical inference -- such as $t$-tests and $F$-tests -- are only valid at fixed sample sizes, making them unsuitable for sequential settings such as online A/B testing. We develop an anytime-valid theory of inference for the linear model, introducing sequential analogues of classical tests and confidence sets that provide Type-I error control and coverage…

自然中介效应与随机干预类比量差异的检测与理解AI 解读

In causal mediation analysis, the natural direct and indirect effects (natural effects) are nonparametrically unidentifiable in the presence of treatment-induced confounding, which motivated the development of randomized interventional analogues (RIAs) of the natural effects. Being easier to identify, the RIAs are becoming widely used in practice. However, applied researchers often interpret RIA estimates as if they were the natural effects, even though the RIAs can be poor…