Graph-based causal variance decompositions: When "variance explained" means causation
基于因果图的方差分解:何时解释方差意味着因果作用
Recursive application of the law of total variance decomposes the marginal variance of an outcome into components attributed to explanatory variables and a residual component. The resulting decomposition depends on the chosen conditioning order, and its components do not in general have causal interpretations. We develop a graph-based framework for defining causal counterparts of ordered variance components and establishing their identification from observed data. Under…