每日简报

工具变量下因果效应的非参数识别与有效估计AI 解读

Instrumental variables are widely used in econometrics and epidemiology for identifying and estimating causal effects when an exposure of interest is confounded by unmeasured factors. Despite this popularity, the assumptions invoked to justify the use of instruments differ substantially across the literature. Similarly, statistical approaches for estimating the resulting causal quantities vary considerably, and often rely on strong parametric assumptions. In this work, we…

优化自适应实验：统一遗憾最小化与最优臂识别AI 解读

Practitioners conducting adaptive experiments often encounter two competing priorities: maximizing total welfare (or `reward') through effective treatment assignment and swiftly concluding experiments to implement population-wide treatments. Current literature addresses these priorities separately, with regret minimization studies focusing on the former and best-arm identification research on the latter. This paper bridges this divide by proposing a unified model that…

何时可以使用双向固定效应：与新型动态双重差分估计量的比较AI 解读

The conventional Two-Way Fixed-Effects (TWFE) estimator has come under scrutiny lately. Recent literature has revealed potential shortcomings of TWFE when the treatment effects are heterogeneous. Scholars have developed new advanced dynamic Difference-in-Differences (DiD) estimators to tackle these potential shortcomings. However, confusion remains in applied research as to when the conventional TWFE is biased and what issues the novel estimators can and cannot address. In…

因果潜在因子模型中的双重稳健推断AI 解读

This article introduces a new estimator of average treatment effects under unobserved confounding in modern data-rich environments featuring large numbers of units and outcomes. The proposed estimator is doubly robust, combining outcome imputation, inverse probability weighting, and a novel cross-fitting procedure for matrix completion. We derive finite-sample and asymptotic guarantees, and show that the error of the new estimator converges to a mean-zero Gaussian…

利用机器学习协调数字平台的横截面与时间层级预测AI 解读

Platform businesses operate on a digital core and their decision making requires high-dimensional accurate forecast streams at different levels of cross-sectional (e.g., geographical regions) and temporal aggregation (e.g., minutes to days). It also necessitates coherent forecasts across all levels of the hierarchy to ensure aligned decision making across different planning units such as pricing, product, controlling and strategy. Given that platform data streams feature…

通过双阶段扰动检验实现必要性与充分性特征归因AI 解读

We investigate the problem of explainability for machine learning models, focusing on Feature Attribution Methods (FAMs) that evaluate feature importance through perturbation tests. Despite their utility, FAMs struggle to distinguish the contributions of different features, when their prediction changes are similar after perturbation. To enhance FAMs' discriminative power, we introduce Feature Attribution with Necessity and Sufficiency (FANS), which find a neighborhood of…

多维回归不连续设计的操纵检验AI 解读

The causal inference model proposed by Lee (2008) for the regression discontinuity design (RDD) relies on assumptions that imply the continuity of the density of the assignment (running) variable. The test for this implication is commonly referred to as the manipulation test and is regularly reported in applied research to strengthen the design's validity. The multidimensional RDD (MRDD) extends the RDD to contexts where treatment assignment depends on several running…

调整识别距离：用于因果结构学习的gadjid工具AI 解读

Evaluating graphs learned by causal discovery algorithms is difficult: The number of edges that differ between two graphs does not reflect how the graphs differ with respect to the identifying formulas they suggest for causal effects. We introduce a framework for developing causal distances between graphs which includes the structural intervention distance for directed acyclic graphs as a special case. We use this framework to develop improved adjustment-based distances as…

利用条件生成模型对可识别因果干预分布进行采样AI 解读

Causal inference from observational data plays critical role in many applications in trustworthy machine learning. While sound and complete algorithms exist to compute causal effects, many of them assume access to conditional likelihoods, which is difficult to estimate for high-dimensional (particularly image) data. Researchers have alleviated this issue by simulating causal relations with neural models. However, when we have high-dimensional variables in the causal graph…

空间数据分析AI 解读

This handbook chapter provides an essential introduction to the field of spatial econometrics, offering a comprehensive overview of techniques and methodologies for analysing spatial data in the social sciences. Spatial econometrics addresses the unique challenges posed by spatially dependent observations, where spatial relationships among data points can be of substantive interest or can significantly impact statistical analyses. The chapter begins by exploring the…

函数型偏最小二乘：自适应估计与推断AI 解读

We study the functional linear regression model with a scalar response and a Hilbert space-valued predictor, a canonical example of an ill-posed inverse problem. We show that the functional partial least squares (PLS) estimator attains nearly minimax-optimal convergence rates over a class of ellipsoids and propose an adaptive early stopping procedure for selecting the number of PLS components. In addition, we develop new test that can detect local alternatives converging at…

算法公平性与准确性前沿的统计推断AI 解读

Algorithms are increasingly used to aid with high-stakes decision making. Yet, their predictive ability frequently exhibits systematic variation across population subgroups. To assess the trade-off between fairness and accuracy using finite data, we propose a debiased machine learning estimator for the fairness-accuracy frontier introduced by Liang, Lu, Mu, and Okumura (2024). We derive its asymptotic distribution and propose inference methods to test key hypotheses in the…

迈向机器学习与经典模型型调查方法的融合AI 解读

The usage of machine learning methods in traditional surveys including official statistics, is still very limited. Therefore, we propose a predictor supported by these algorithms, which can be used to predict any population or subpopulation characteristics. Machine learning methods have already been shown to be very powerful in identifying and modelling complex and nonlinear relationships between the variables, which means they have very good properties in case of strong…

观察性研究方案：回归不连续设计的应用AI 解读

In his 2022 IMS Medallion Lecture delivered at the Joint Statistical Meetings, Prof. Dylan S. Small eloquently advocated for the use of protocols in observational studies. We discuss his proposal and, inspired by his ideas, we develop a protocol for the regression discontinuity design.

函数系数网络自回归模型AI 解读

The paper introduces a flexible model for the analysis of multivariate nonlinear time series data. The proposed Functional Coefficients Network Autoregressive (FCNAR) model considers the response of each node in the network to depend in a nonlinear fashion to each own past values (autoregressive component), as well as past values of each neighbor (network component). Key issues of model stability/stationarity, together with model parameter identifiability, estimation and…

利用因果模型识别行动的意图效应AI 解读

The aim of this paper is to extend the framework of causal inference, in particular as it has been developed by Judea Pearl, in order to model actions and identify their intended effects, in the direction opened by Elisabeth Anscombe. We show how intentions can be inferred from a causal model and its implied correlations observable in data. The paper defines confounding effects as the reasons why teleological inference may fail and introduces interference as a way to control…

马尔可夫机制转换模型的贝叶斯滤波AI 解读

This paper presents a framework for empirical analysis of dynamic macroeconomic models using Bayesian filtering, with a specific focus on the state-space formulation of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models with multiple regimes. We outline the theoretical foundations of model estimation, provide the details of two families of powerful multiple-regime filters, IMM and GPB, and construct corresponding multiple-regime smoothers. A simulation exercise, based on a…

通过凸凹优化寻找移动区间统计套利AI 解读

We propose a new method for finding statistical arbitrages that can contain more assets than just the traditional pair. We formulate the problem as seeking a portfolio with the highest volatility, subject to its price remaining in a band and a leverage limit. This optimization problem is not convex, but can be approximately solved using the convex-concave procedure, a specific sequential convex programming method. We show how the method generalizes to finding moving-band…

脱靶干预下的因果发现AI 解读

Causal graph discovery is a significant problem with applications across various disciplines. However, with observational data alone, the underlying causal graph can only be recovered up to its Markov equivalence class, and further assumptions or interventions are necessary to narrow down the true graph. This work addresses the causal discovery problem under the setting of stochastic interventions with the natural goal of minimizing the number of interventions performed. We…

结构不确定性下因果推断的对偶似然AI 解读

Knowledge of the underlying causal relations is essential for inferring the effect of interventions in complex systems. In a widely studied approach, structural causal models postulate noisy functional relations among interacting variables, where the underlying causal structure is then naturally represented by a directed graph whose edges indicate direct causal dependencies. In the typical application, this underlying causal structure must be learned from data, and thus, the…

高维数据中边际风险比估计的协变量选择AI 解读

Hazard ratios are frequently reported in time-to-event and epidemiological studies to assess treatment effects. In observational studies, the combination of propensity score weights with the Cox proportional hazards model facilitates the estimation of the marginal hazard ratio (MHR). The methods for estimating MHR are analogous to those employed for estimating common causal parameters, such as the average treatment effect. However, MHR estimation in the context of…

具有长程依赖误差的流形函数型多元回归模型AI 解读

This paper considers the problem of manifold functional multiple regression with functional response, time--varying scalar regressors, and functional error term displaying Long Range Dependence (LRD) in time. Specifically, the error term is given by a manifold multifractionally integrated functional time series (see, e.g., Ovalle--Muñoz \& Ruiz--Medina, 2024)). The manifold is defined by a connected and compact two--point homogeneous space. The functional regression…

后验可分信息成本下的识别AI 解读

I provide a model of rational inattention with heterogeneity and prove it is observationally equivalent to a state-dependent stochastic choice model subject to attention costs. I demonstrate that additive separability of unobservable heterogeneity, together with an independence assumption, suffice for the empirical model to admit a representative agent. Using conditional probabilities, I show how to identify: how covariates affect the desirability of goods, (a measure of)…

气候数据的空间分位数聚类AI 解读

In the era of climate change, the distribution of climate variables evolves with changes not limited to the mean value. Consequently, clustering algorithms based on central tendency could produce misleading results when used to summarize spatial and/or temporal patterns. We present a novel approach to spatial clustering of time series based on quantiles using a Bayesian framework that incorporates a spatial dependence layer based on a Markov random field. A series of…