每日简报

环境暴露对社会流动的影响：主分层的贝叶斯半参数方法AI 解读

Understanding the causal effects of air pollution exposures on social mobility is attracting increasing attention. At the same time, education is widely recognized as a key driver of social mobility. However, the causal pathways linking fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure, educational attainment, and social mobility remain largely unexplored. To address this, we adopt the principal stratification approach, which rigorously defines causal effects when a post-treatment…

整群随机试验中不完整结果与协变量的处理AI 解读

In cluster-randomized trials (CRTs), missing data can occur in various ways, including missing values in outcomes and baseline covariates at the individual or cluster level, or completely missing information for non-participants. Among the various types of missing data in CRTs, missing outcomes have attracted the most attention. However, no existing methods simultaneously address all aforementioned types of missing data in CRTs. To fill in this gap, we propose a…

连接政策学习中的经验福利最大化与条件平均处理效应估计AI 解读

The goal of policy learning is to train a policy function that recommends a treatment given covariates to maximize population welfare. There are two major approaches in policy learning: the empirical welfare maximization (EWM) approach and the plug-in approach. The EWM approach is analogous to a classification problem, where one first builds an estimator of the population welfare, which is a functional of policy functions, and then trains a policy by maximizing the estimated…

允许任意溢出与延续效应的时空因果推断：伊拉克战争中的空袭与叛乱暴力AI 解读

Social scientists now routinely draw on high-frequency, high-granularity ''microlevel'' data to estimate the causal effects of subnational interventions. To date, most researchers aggregate these data into panels, often tied to large-scale administrative units. This approach has two limitations. First, data (over)aggregation obscures valuable spatial and temporal information, heightening the risk of mistaken inferences. Second, existing panel approaches either ignore spatial…

重新理解需求估计AI 解读

This paper clarifies how and why structural demand models (Berry and Haile, 2014, 2024) predict unit-level counterfactual outcomes. We do so by casting structural assumptions equivalently as restrictions on the joint distribution of potential outcomes. Our reformulation highlights a counterfactual homogeneity assumption underlying structural demand models: The relationship between counterfactual outcomes is assumed to be identical across markets. This assumption is strong,…

二元选择模型中的分组固定效应正则化AI 解读

We study the application of the grouped fixed effects approach to binary choice models for panel data in presence of severe complete separation. Through data loss, complete separation may lead to biased estimates of Average Partial Effects and imprecise inference. Moreover, forecasts are not available for units without variability in the response configuration. The grouped fixed effects approach discretizes unobserved heterogeneity via k-means clustering, thus reducing the…

带颜色约束的高斯有向无环图模型AI 解读

We study submodels of Gaussian DAG models defined by partial homogeneity constraints imposed on the model error variances and structural coefficients. We represent these models with colored DAGs and investigate their properties for use in statistical and causal inference. Local and global Markov properties are provided and shown to characterize the colored DAG model. Additional properties relevant to causal discovery are studied, including the existence and non-existence of…

利用均匀化与稀疏性估计和计算连续时间动态离散选择博弈AI 解读

Continuous-time empirical dynamic discrete choice games offer notable computational advantages over discrete-time models. This paper addresses remaining computational and econometric challenges to further improve both model solution and estimation. We establish convergence rates for value iteration and policy evaluation with fixed beliefs, and develop Newton-Kantorovich methods that exploit analytical Jacobians and sparse matrix structure. We apply uniformization both to…

分类结果的样本选择偏差校正AI 解读

In this paper, I propose a method for correcting sample selection bias when the outcome of interest is categorical, such as occupational choice, health status, or field of study. Classical approaches to sample selection rely on strong parametric distributional assumptions, which may be restrictive in practice. I develop a local representation that decomposes each joint probability into marginal probabilities and a category-specific association parameter that captures how…

生成式暴露映射模型中非对称关系的量化与交叉拟合推断AI 解读

Learning directionality between variables is crucial yet challenging, especially for mechanistic relationships without a priori ordering assumptions. We propose a coefficient of asymmetry to quantify directional asymmetry using Shannon's entropy within a generative exposure mapping (GEM) framework. GEMs arise from experiments where a generative function $g$ maps exposure $X$ to outcome $Y$ through $Y = g(X)$, extended to noise-perturbed GEMs as $Y = g(X) + ε$. Our approach…

处理效应有界时的偏差—方差权衡AI 解读

Assume that one is interested in estimating an average treatment effect (ATE), equal to a weighted average of $S$ conditional average treatment effects (CATEs). One has unbiased estimators of the CATEs. One could just average the CATE estimators, to form an unbiased estimator of the ATE. However, some CATE estimators may be less precise than others. Then, downweighting the imprecisely estimated CATEs may lead to a lower mean-squared error and/or shorter confidence intervals.…

大量弱矩条件与干扰参数下的 GMM：一般理论及因果推断应用AI 解读

Weak identification arises in many statistical problems when key variables exhibit weak correlations-for example, when instrumental variables correlate weakly with treatment, or when proxy variables correlate weakly with unmeasured confounders. Under weak identification, standard estimation methods such as the generalized method of moments (GMM) can produce substantial bias, both in finite samples and asymptotically. This challenge is compounded in modern applications that…

面板数据模型中辅助性—充分性交织 MCMC 的收敛速率AI 解读

Improving Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm efficiency is essential for enhancing computational speed and inferential accuracy in Bayesian analysis. These improvements can be effectively achieved using the ancillarity-sufficiency interweaving strategy (ASIS), an effective means of achieving such gains. Herein, we provide the first rigorous theoretical justification for applying ASIS in Bayesian hierarchical panel data models. Asymptotic analysis demonstrated that when the…

潜在状态动态误设下的稳健结构估计AI 解读

Estimation and counterfactual analysis in dynamic structural models rely on assumptions about the dynamic process of latent variables, which may be misspecified. We propose a framework to quantify the sensitivity of scalar parameters of interest (e.g., welfare, elasticity) to such assumptions. We derive bounds on the scalar parameter by perturbing a reference dynamic process, while imposing a stationarity condition for time-homogeneous models or a Markovian condition for…

阶梯楔形整群随机试验中的预期效应AI 解读

In stepped wedge cluster randomized trials (SW-CRTs), the intervention is rolled out to clusters over multiple periods. A standard approach for analyzing SW-CRTs utilizes the linear mixed model, where the treatment effect is only present after the treatment adoption, under the assumption of no anticipation. This assumption, however, may not always hold in practice because stakeholders, providers, or individuals who are aware of the treatment adoption timing (especially when…

动态面板门槛模型的自助推断AI 解读

This paper develops valid bootstrap inference methods for the dynamic short panel threshold regression. We show that the standard nonparametric bootstrap is inconsistent for the first-differenced generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. The inconsistency arises from an $n^{1/4}$-consistent non-normal asymptotic distribution of the threshold estimator when the true parameter lies in the continuity region of the parameter space, which stems from the rank deficiency of…

结合陈述偏好与显示偏好AI 解读

Can stated preferences inform counterfactual analyses of actual choice? This research proposes a novel approach to researchers who have access to both stated choices in hypothetical scenarios and actual choices, matched or unmatched. The key idea is to use stated choices to identify the distribution of individual unobserved heterogeneity. If this unobserved heterogeneity is the source of endogeneity, the researcher can correct for its influence in a demand function…

通过神经对抗不变性学习从异质环境中探寻因果关系AI 解读

Pursuing causality from data is a fundamental problem in scientific discovery, treatment intervention, and transfer learning. This paper introduces a novel algorithmic method for addressing nonparametric invariance and causality learning in regression models across multiple environments, where the joint distribution of response variables and covariates varies, but the conditional expectations of outcome given an unknown set of quasi-causal variables are invariant. The…

广义单调性对平均处理效应的识别能力AI 解读

In the context of a binary outcome, treatment, and instrument, Balke and Pearl (1993, 1997) es- tablish that the monotonicity condition of Imbens and Angrist (1994) has no identifying power beyond instrument exogeneity for average potential outcomes and average treatment effects in the sense that adding it to instrument exogeneity does not decrease the identified sets for those parameters whenever those restrictions are consistent with the distribution of the observable…

混合对照试验中偏差界定的非参数敏感性分析AI 解读

We study hybrid control trials (HCTs), in which a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is augmented with external control patients. Existing approaches for HCTs typically assume conditional exchangeability of the concurrent and external controls to identify trial-specific effects. When violated, this can induce substantial unquantified bias, which in turn limits the acceptability of HCTs in regulatory settings. We treat violations of mean exchangeability as omitted variable…

利用效应度量可迁移性的异质性感知联邦因果推断AI 解读

Federated learning of causal estimands offers a powerful strategy to improve estimation efficiency by leveraging data from multiple study sites while preserving privacy. Existing literature has primarily focused on the average treatment effect using single data source, whereas our work addresses a broader class of causal measures across multiple sources. We derive and compare semiparametrically efficient estimators under two transportability assumptions, which impose…

网络因果效应的自回归双重稳健估计AI 解读

This paper develops new methods for causal inference in observational studies on a single large network of interconnected units, addressing two key challenges: long-range dependence among units and the presence of general interference. We introduce a novel network version of Augmented Inverse Propensity Weighted, which combines propensity score and outcome models defined on the network to achieve doubly robust identification and estimation of both direct and spillover causal…

异质性处理效应与因果机制AI 解读

The credibility revolution advances the use of research designs that permit identification and estimation of causal effects. However, understanding which mechanisms produce measured causal effects remains a challenge. The dominant current approach to the quantitative evaluation of mechanisms relies on the detection of heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs) with respect to pre-treatment covariates. This paper develops a framework to understand when the existence of such…

处理效应随时间变化时阶梯楔形试验检验功效的影响因素AI 解读

Stepped wedge cluster randomized trials (SW-CRTs) have historically been analyzed using immediate treatment (IT) models, which assume the effect of the treatment is immediate after treatment initiation and subsequently remains constant over time. However, recent research has shown that this assumption can lead to severely misleading results if treatment effects vary with exposure time, i.e. time since the intervention started. Models that account for time-varying treatment…