每日简报

生产函数估计的广义控制函数方法AI 解读

We develop a generalized control function approach to production function estimation. Our approach accommodates settings in which productivity evolves jointly with other unobservable factors such as latent demand shocks and the invertibility assumption underpinning the traditional proxy variable approach fails. We provide conditions under which the output elasticity of the variable input -- and hence the markup -- is nonparametrically point-identified. A Neyman orthogonal…

性别工资差距中的分位数选择校正AI 解读

We propose a new approach to estimate selection-corrected quantiles of the gender wage gap. Our method employs instrumental variables that explain variation in the latent variable but, conditional on the latent process, do not directly affect selection. We provide semiparametric identification of the quantile parameters without imposing parametric restrictions on the selection probability, derive the asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimator based on constrained…

将 Riesz 回归理解为直接密度比估计AI 解读

This study clarifies the relationship between Riesz regression [Chernozhukov et al., 2021] and density ratio estimation (DRE) in causal inference problems, such as average treatment effect estimation. We first show that the Riesz representer can be written as a signed density ratio and then demonstrate that the Riesz regression objective coincides with the least-squares importance fitting criterion [Kanamori et al., 2009]. Although Riesz regression applies to a broad class…

用大语言模型模拟人类行为的挑战：因果推断视角AI 解读

Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown impressive potential to simulate human behavior. We identify a fundamental challenge in using them to simulate experiments: when LLM-simulated subjects are blind to the experimental design (as is standard practice with human subjects), variations in treatment systematically affect unspecified variables that should remain constant, violating the unconfoundedness assumption. Using demand estimation as a context and an actual experiment…

存在样本构成变化时的双重差分AI 解读

This paper studies Difference-in-Differences (DiD) setups with repeated cross-sectional data and potential compositional changes across time periods. We begin our analysis by deriving the efficient influence function and the semiparametric efficiency bound for the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT). We introduce nonparametric estimators that attain the semiparametric efficiency bound under mild rate conditions on the estimators of the nuisance functions,…

异质性处理效应的变量重要性度量AI 解读

Motivated by applications in precision medicine and treatment effect heterogeneity, recent research has focused on estimating conditional average treatment effects (CATEs) using machine learning (ML). CATE estimates may represent complicated functions that provide little insight into the key drivers of heterogeneity. Therefore, we introduce nonparametric treatment effect variable importance measures (TE-VIMs), based on the mean-squared error (MSE) in predicting the…

基于距离协方差的估计量AI 解读

This paper proposes an estimator that relaxes the conventional relevance condition in instrumental variable (IV) analyses. The method allows endogenous covariates to be weakly correlated, uncorrelated, or even mean-independent -- though not independent -- of the instruments, enabling the use of the maximal set of relevant instruments in a given application. Identification is attainable without exclusion restrictions and without finite-moment assumptions on the disturbance…

含固定效应的非线性网络数据模型的刀切法偏差校正AI 解读

I introduce a new method for bias correction of dyadic models with agent-specific fixed effects, including the dyadic link formation model with homophily and degree heterogeneity. The proposed approach uses a jackknife procedure to deal with the incidental parameters problem. The method can be applied to both directed and undirected networks, allows for non-binary outcome variables, and can be used to bias correct estimates of average effects and counterfactual outcomes. I…

多协变量完全随机实验中的回归调整AI 解读

This paper investigates estimation and inference for average treatment effects in completely randomized experiments when researchers observe potentially many covariates. Within Neyman's (1923) design-based framework, allowing the number of covariates to grow more slowly than the sample size, we demonstrate that a cross-fitted regression adjustment estimator--adapted from Aronow and Middleton (2013)--exhibits more favorable asymptotic properties than existing alternatives,…

TabPFN：一个模型能否包办所有任务？AI 解读

Hollmann et al. (Nature 637 (2025) 319-326) recently introduced TabPFN, a transformer-based deep learning model for regression and classification on tabular data, which they claim "outperforms all previous methods on datasets with up to 10,000 samples by a wide margin, using substantially less training time." Furthermore, they have called TabPFN a "foundation model" for tabular data, as it can support "data generation, density estimation, learning reusable embeddings and…

因果正则化：样本内风险与样本外风险保证的权衡AI 解读

Invariant prediction uses the prediction stability of causal relationships across different environments to identify causal variables. Conversely, using causal variables gives prediction guarantees even in out-of-sample data settings. In this paper, we investigate the identification of causal-like models from in-sample data that ensure out-of-sample risk guarantees when predicting a target variable from an arbitrary set of covariates. Ordinary least squares minimizes…

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…

均衡存在与唯一性条件下同质商品市场的行为参数估计：对数线性模型AI 解读

We propose a constrained generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator with some equilibrium uniqueness conditions for estimating the conduct parameter in a log-linear model with homogeneous goods markets. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that merely imposing parameter restrictions leads to not just inaccurate estimations but also some numerical issues, and adding the equilibrium uniqueness conditions resolves them. We also suggest a formulation of the GMM estimation to…

统一空间混杂处理方法的工具变量框架AI 解读

Studies investigating the causal effects of spatially varying exposures on outcomes often rely on observational and spatially indexed data. A prevalent challenge is unmeasured spatial confounding, where an unobserved spatially varying variable affects both exposure and outcome, leading to biased estimates and invalid confidence intervals. There is a very large literature on spatial statistics that attempts to address unmeasured spatial confounding bias; most of this…

受高阶影响函数启发的随机实验协变量调整AI 解读

Higher-Order Influence Functions (HOIF), developed in a series of papers over the past twenty years, are a fundamental theoretical device for constructing rate-optimal causal-effect estimators from observational studies. However, the value of HOIF for analyzing well-conducted randomized controlled trials (RCT) has not been explicitly explored. In the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency guidelines on the practice of covariate adjustment in…

用于可解释异质性处理效应估计的因果规则学习新方法AI 解读

Interpretability plays a crucial role in the application of statistical learning to estimate heterogeneous treatment effects (HTE) in complex diseases. In this study, we leverage a rule-based workflow, namely causal rule learning (CRL), to estimate and improve our understanding of HTE for atrial septal defect, addressing an overlooked question in the previous literature: what if an individual simultaneously belongs to multiple groups with different average treatment effects?…

双重差分框架下监管政策对社会福利影响的评估AI 解读

Quantifying the impact of regulatory policies on social welfare generally requires the identification of counterfactual distributions. Many of these policies (e.g. minimum wages or minimum working time) generate mass points and/or discontinuities in the outcome distribution. Existing approaches in the difference-in-difference literature cannot accommodate these discontinuities while accounting for selection on unobservables and non-stationary outcome distributions. We…

网络干扰下因果效应估计中 Horvitz–Thompson 估计量的容许性AI 解读

The Horvitz-Thompson (H-T) estimator is widely used for estimating network causal effects. We study its optimality properties by embedding it in the class of all linear estimators. We show that, under any form of interference, the H-T estimator is inadmissible with respect to mean squared error for designs that generate a random number of units for a given treatment-exposure combination, which includes completely randomized and Bernoulli designs. In contrast, the Hajek and…

因果面板估计量的方差估计AI 解读

There has been a recent surge in research on causal panel data models, leading to many new estimators for average causal effects. However, researchers have paid less attention to quantifying the precision of these estimators. This paper addresses that gap by studying the problem of variance estimation in causal panel settings. We develop a unified framework for comparing the three main variance estimators used in these settings: regression-based, Unit-Placebo, and…

分布偏移下的高维分位数回归迁移学习AI 解读

Information from related source studies can often enhance the findings of a target study. However, the distribution shift between target and source studies can severely impact the efficiency of knowledge transfer. In the high-dimensional regression setting, existing transfer approaches mainly focus on the parameter shift. In this paper, we focus on the high-dimensional quantile regression with knowledge transfer under three types of distribution shift: parameter shift,…

高维数据整合中的最优网络引导协变量选择AI 解读

Modern data often arises with multiple modalities. For example, covariates and a network are observed on the same subjects, and both contain useful information. Effectively integrating these modalities is important and challenging, especially when the response is unavailable. We study the fundamental covariate selection problem for high-dimensional data by leveraging network information. We propose the Network-Guided Covariate Selection (NGCS) algorithm. NGCS exploits the…

污染下高维双重稳健因果推断的惩罚经验似然AI 解读

We propose a doubly robust estimator for the average treatment effect in high dimensional low sample size observational studies, where contamination and model misspecification pose serious inferential challenges. The estimator combines bounded influence estimating equations for outcome modeling with covariate balancing propensity scores for treatment assignment, embedded within a penalized empirical likelihood framework using nonconvex regularization. It satisfies the oracle…

孟德尔随机化因果推断方法：估计对象、识别与推断AI 解读

Mendelian randomization (MR) has become an essential tool for causal inference in biomedical and public health research. By using genetic variants as instrumental variables, MR helps address unmeasured confounding and reverse causation, offering a quasi-experimental framework to evaluate causal effects of modifiable exposures on health outcomes. Despite its promise, MR faces substantial methodological challenges, including invalid instruments, weak instrument bias, and…

结合贝叶斯加性回归树的第二类Tobit样本选择模型AI 解读

This paper introduces Type 2 Tobit Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (TOBART-2). BART can produce accurate individual-specific treatment effect estimates. However, in practice estimates are often biased by sample selection. We extend the Type 2 Tobit sample selection model to account for nonlinearities and model uncertainty by including sums of trees in both the selection and outcome equations. A Dirichlet Process Mixture distribution for the error terms allows for…