Credible causal inference beyond toy models
超越玩具模型的可信因果推断
Causal inference with observational data critically relies on untestable and extra-statistical assumptions that have (sometimes) testable implications. Well-known sets of assumptions that are sufficient to justify the causal interpretation of certain estimators are called identification strategies. These templates for causal analysis, however, do not perfectly map into empirical research practice. Researchers are often left in the disjunctive of either abstracting away from…