论文检索

部分识别下局部渐近极小极大的统计处理规则AI 解读

Policymakers often desire a statistical treatment rule (STR) that determines a treatment assignment rule deployed in a future population from available data. With the true knowledge of the data generating process, the average treatment effect (ATE) is the key quantity characterizing the optimal treatment rule. Unfortunately, the ATE is often not point identified but partially identified. Presuming the partial identification of the ATE, this study conducts a local asymptotic…

用于函数型数据因果结构学习的核独立性检验AI 解读

Measurements of systems taken along a continuous functional dimension, such as time or space, are ubiquitous in many fields, from the physical and biological sciences to economics and engineering.Such measurements can be viewed as realisations of an underlying smooth process sampled over the continuum. However, traditional methods for independence testing and causal learning are not directly applicable to such data, as they do not take into account the dependence along the…

随机试验中利用历史数据的高效预后调整AI 解读

Although randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a cornerstone of comparative effectiveness, they typically have much smaller sample size than observational studies because of financial and ethical considerations. Therefore there is interest in using plentiful historical data (either observational data or prior trials) to reduce trial sizes. Previous estimators developed for this purpose rely on unrealistic assumptions, without which the added data can bias the treatment…

部分可观测马尔可夫决策过程中的未来依赖价值离策略评估AI 解读

We study off-policy evaluation (OPE) for partially observable MDPs (POMDPs) with general function approximation. Existing methods such as sequential importance sampling estimators and fitted-Q evaluation suffer from the curse of horizon in POMDPs. To circumvent this problem, we develop a novel model-free OPE method by introducing future-dependent value functions that take future proxies as inputs. Future-dependent value functions play similar roles as classical value…

匹配数量随样本增长的倾向得分匹配AI 解读

This paper reexamines Abadie and Imbens (2016)'s work on propensity score matching for average treatment effect estimation. We explore the asymptotic behavior of these estimators when the number of nearest neighbors, $M$, grows with the sample size. It is shown, hardly surprising but technically nontrivial, that the modified estimators can improve upon the original fixed-$M$ estimators in terms of efficiency. Additionally, we demonstrate the potential to attain the…

有偏数据下的个体因果归因AI 解读

We consider the problem of assessing whether, in an individual case, there is a causal relationship between an observed exposure and a response variable. When data are available on similar individuals we may be able to estimate prospective probabilities, but even under ideal conditions these are typically inadequate to identify the "probability of causation": instead we can only derive bounds for this. These bounds can be improved or amended when we have information on…

干预概率分布的公理化AI 解读

Causal intervention is an essential tool in causal inference. It is axiomatized under the rules of do-calculus in the case of structure causal models. We provide simple axiomatizations for families of probability distributions to be different types of interventional distributions. Our axiomatizations neatly lead to a simple and clear theory of causality that has several advantages: it does not need to make use of any modeling assumptions such as those imposed by structural…

可能误设的边际结构 Cox 模型下的双重稳健估计AI 解读

In this paper we address the challenges posed by non-proportional hazards and informative censoring, offering a path toward more meaningful causal inference conclusions. We start from the marginal structural Cox model, which has been widely used for analyzing observational studies with survival outcomes, and typically relies on the inverse probability weighting method. The latter hinges upon a propensity score model for the treatment assignment, and a censoring model which…

匹配设计中的协变量自适应随机化推断AI 解读

It is common to conduct causal inference in matched observational studies by proceeding as though treatment assignments within matched sets are assigned uniformly at random and using this distribution as the basis for inference. This approach ignores observed discrepancies in matched sets that may be consequential for the distribution of treatment, which are succinctly captured by within-set differences in the propensity score. We address this problem via covariate-adaptive…

函数型结果的因果推断AI 解读

This paper presents methods to study the causal effect of a binary treatment on a functional outcome with observational data. We define a Functional Average Treatment Effect and develop an outcome regression estimator. We show how to obtain valid inference on the FATE using simultaneous confidence bands, which cover the FATE with a given probability over the entire domain. Simulation experiments illustrate how the simultaneous confidence bands take the multiple comparison…

CausalImages：面向地球观测、生物医学与社会科学图像的因果推断 R 包AI 解读

The causalimages R package enables causal inference with image and image sequence data, providing new tools for integrating novel data sources like satellite and bio-medical imagery into the study of cause and effect. One set of functions enables image-based causal inference analyses. For example, one key function decomposes treatment effect heterogeneity by images using an interpretable Bayesian framework. This allows for determining which types of images or image sequences…

利用工具变量与环境估计存在隐藏混杂的因果效应AI 解读

Recent works have proposed regression models which are invariant across data collection environments. These estimators often have a causal interpretation under conditions on the environments and type of invariance imposed. One recent example, the Causal Dantzig (CD), is consistent under hidden confounding and represents an alternative to classical instrumental variable estimators such as Two Stage Least Squares (TSLS). In this work we derive the CD as a generalized method of…

以反事实方式比较可拒绝预测的分类器AI 解读

Abstaining classifiers have the option to abstain from making predictions on inputs that they are unsure about. These classifiers are becoming increasingly popular in high-stakes decision-making problems, as they can withhold uncertain predictions to improve their reliability and safety. When evaluating black-box abstaining classifier(s), however, we lack a principled approach that accounts for what the classifier would have predicted on its abstentions. These missing…

软干预下因果解耦的可识别性保证AI 解读

Causal disentanglement aims to uncover a representation of data using latent variables that are interrelated through a causal model. Such a representation is identifiable if the latent model that explains the data is unique. In this paper, we focus on the scenario where unpaired observational and interventional data are available, with each intervention changing the mechanism of a latent variable. When the causal variables are fully observed, statistically consistent…

不完美替代指标下的长期因果推断：众多弱实验、代理与跨折矩AI 解读

Inferring causal effects on long-term outcomes using short-term surrogates is crucial to rapid innovation. However, even when treatments are randomized and surrogates fully mediate their effect on outcomes, it's possible that we get the direction of causal effects wrong due to confounding between surrogates and outcomes -- a situation famously known as the surrogate paradox. The availability of many historical experiments offer the opportunity to instrument for the surrogate…

通过学习预测适用的因果方法AI 解读

For a given causal question, it is important to efficiently decide which causal inference method to use for a given dataset. This is challenging because causal methods typically rely on complex and difficult-to-verify assumptions, and cross-validation is not applicable since ground truth causal quantities are unobserved. In this work, we propose CAusal Method Predictor (CAMP), a framework for predicting the best method for a given dataset. To this end, we generate datasets…

灵活估计与解释胆囊炎患者腹腔镜手术的异质性治疗效应AI 解读

Laparoscopic surgery has been shown through a number of randomized trials to be an effective form of treatment for cholecystitis. Given this evidence, one natural question for clinical practice is: does the effectiveness of laparoscopic surgery vary among patients? It might be the case that, while the overall effect is positive, some patients treated with laparoscopic surgery may respond positively to the intervention while others do not or may be harmed. In our study, we…

政治学中的工具变量估计有多可信？基于六十余项复现的实践建议AI 解读

Instrumental variable (IV) strategies are widely used in political science to establish causal relationships. However, the identifying assumptions required by an IV design are demanding, and it remains challenging for researchers to assess their validity. In this paper, we replicate 67 papers published in three top journals in political science during 2010-2022 and identify several troubling patterns. First, researchers often overestimate the strength of their IVs due to…

因果发现中的预测不对称性：信息论方法AI 解读

Causal investigations in observational studies pose a great challenge in research where randomized trials or intervention-based studies are not feasible. We develop an information geometric causal discovery and inference framework of "predictive asymmetry". For $(X, Y)$, predictive asymmetry enables assessment of whether $X$ is more likely to cause $Y$ or vice-versa. The asymmetry between cause and effect becomes particularly simple if $X$ and $Y$ are deterministically…

利用非线性变换修正内生性的渐近性质AI 解读

This paper considers a linear regression model with an endogenous regressor which arises from a nonlinear transformation of a latent variable. It is shown that the corresponding coefficient can be consistently estimated without external instruments by adding a rank-based transformation of the regressor to the model and performing standard OLS estimation. In contrast to other approaches, our nonparametric control function approach does not rely on a conformably specified…

观察数据中暴露对计数结果的效应：以被监禁女性为例AI 解读

Causal inference methods can be applied to estimate the effect of a point exposure or treatment on an outcome of interest using data from observational studies. For example, in the Women's Interagency HIV Study, it is of interest to understand the effects of incarceration on the number of sexual partners and the number of cigarettes smoked after incarceration. In settings like this where the outcome is a count, the estimand is often the causal mean ratio, i.e., the ratio of…

岭正则化的刀切 Anderson–Rubin 检验AI 解读

We consider hypothesis testing in instrumental variable regression models with few included exogenous covariates but many instruments -- possibly more than the number of observations. We show that a ridge-regularised version of the jackknifed Anderson Rubin (1949, henceforth AR) test controls asymptotic size in the presence of heteroskedasticity, and when the instruments may be arbitrarily weak. Asymptotic size control is established under weaker assumptions than those…

选择条件工具变量集合的图形工具AI 解读

We consider the efficient estimation of total causal effects in the presence of unmeasured confounding using conditional instrumental sets. Specifically, we consider the two-stage least squares estimator in the setting of a linear structural equation model with correlated errors that is compatible with a known acyclic directed mixed graph. To set the stage for our results, we characterize the class of linearly valid conditional instrumental sets that yield consistent…

序贯决策中用于高效政策评估的最优处理分配AI 解读

A/B testing is critical for modern technological companies to evaluate the effectiveness of newly developed products against standard baselines. This paper studies optimal designs that aim to maximize the amount of information obtained from online experiments to estimate treatment effects accurately. We propose three optimal allocation strategies in a dynamic setting where treatments are sequentially assigned over time. These strategies are designed to minimize the variance…