每日简报

随机对照试验中平均处理效应的无偏回归调整估计AI 解读

This article introduces a leave-one-out regression adjustment (LOORA) for estimating average treatment effects in randomized controlled trials. In finite samples, LOORA removes the bias of conventional regression adjustment and yields exact variance formulas for regression-adjusted Horvitz-Thompson and difference-in-means estimators. Ridge regularization curbs the influence of high-leverage observations, improving stability and precision in small samples. In large samples,…

生存结果中未观测混杂的非参数敏感性分析AI 解读

In observational studies, the observed association between an exposure and outcome of interest may be distorted by unobserved confounding. Causal sensitivity analysis can be used to assess the robustness of observed associations to potential unobserved confounding. For time-to-event outcomes, existing sensitivity analysis methods rely on parametric assumptions on the structure of the unobserved confounders and Cox proportional hazards models for the outcome regression. If…

连续时间动态离散选择博弈的识别与估计AI 解读

This paper considers the theoretical, computational, and econometric properties of continuous time dynamic discrete choice games with stochastically sequential moves, introduced by Arcidiacono, Bayer, Blevins, and Ellickson (2016). We consider identification of the rate of move arrivals, which was assumed to be known in previous work, as well as a generalized version with heterogeneous move arrival rates. We re-establish conditions for existence of a Markov perfect…

长期实验中的偏差与方差权衡AI 解读

As we exhaust methods that reduces variance without introducing bias, reducing variance in experiments often requires accepting some bias, using methods like winsorization or surrogate metrics. While this bias-variance tradeoff can be optimized for individual experiments, bias may accumulate over time, raising concerns for long-term optimization. We analyze whether bias is ever acceptable when it can accumulate, and show that a bias-variance tradeoff persists in long-term…

稳定估计时变处理效应的自适应正交化方法AI 解读

Inferring the causal effects of time-varying treatments is often hindered by highly variable inverse propensity weights, particularly in settings with limited covariate overlap. Building on the key framework of Imai and Ratkovic (2015), we establish sufficient balancing conditions for identification in longitudinal studies of treatment effects and propose a novel estimator that directly targets features of counterfactual or potential covariates. Instead of balancing observed…

关键基础设施投资中的空间协调经济学AI 解读

We develop a hybrid approach to estimate spatial coordination mechanisms in structural dynamic discrete choice models by combining nested fixed-point (NFXP) dynamic programming with method of simulated moments (MSM), achieving computational tractability in spatial settings while preserving structural interpretation. Applying this framework to GPU replacement data from 12,915 equipment locations in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Titan supercomputer, we identify two distinct…

利用分阶段树模型进行分类数据的贝叶斯因果效应估计AI 解读

We propose a fully Bayesian approach for causal inference with multivariate categorical data based on staged tree models, a class of probabilistic graphical models capable of representing asymmetric and context-specific dependencies. To account for uncertainty in both structure and parameters, we introduce a flexible family of prior distributions over staged trees. These include product partition models to encourage parsimony, a novel distance-based prior to promote…

具有格结构的多元有序离散响应模型AI 解读

We analyze multivariate ordered discrete response models with a lattice structure, modeling decision makers who narrowly bracket choices across multiple dimensions. These models map latent continuous processes into discrete responses using functionally independent decision thresholds. In a semiparametric framework, we model latent processes as sums of covariate indices and unobserved errors, deriving conditions for identifying parameters, thresholds, and the joint cumulative…

含高阶交互的加性模型因果结构学习AI 解读

Causal structure learning has long been the central task of inferring causal insights from data. Despite the abundance of real-world processes exhibiting higher-order mechanisms, however, an explicit treatment of interactions in causal discovery has received little attention. In this work, we focus on extending the causal additive model (CAM) to additive models with higher-order interactions. This second level of modularity we introduce to the structure learning problem is…

使用 t 检验进行单一处理簇下的聚类稳健推断AI 解读

This paper considers inference when there is a single treated cluster and a fixed number of control clusters, a setting that is common in empirical work, especially in difference-in-differences designs. We use the t-statistic and develop suitable critical values to conduct valid inference under weak assumptions allowing for unknown dependence within clusters. In particular, our inference procedure does not involve variance estimation. It only requires specifying the relative…

多层非线性中断时间序列分析AI 解读

Recent advances in interrupted time series analysis permit characterization of a typical non-linear interruption effect through use of generalized additive models. Concurrently, advances in latent time series modeling allow efficient Bayesian multilevel time series models. We propose to combine these concepts with a hierarchical model selection prior to characterize interruption effects with a multilevel structure, encouraging parsimony and partial pooling while…

广义不完整列联表中干预查询的界定AI 解读

We introduce a method for evaluating interventional queries and Average Treatment Effects (ATEs) in the presence of generalized incomplete contingency tables (GICTs), contingency tables containing a full row of random (sampling) zeros, rendering some conditional probabilities undefined. Rather than discarding such entries or imputing missing values, we model the unknown probabilities as free parameters and derive symbolic expressions for the queries that incorporate them. By…

合成平行趋势AI 解读

Popular empirical strategies for policy evaluation in the panel data literature -- including difference-in-differences (DID), synthetic control (SC) methods, and their variants -- rely on key identifying assumptions that can be expressed through a specific choice of weights $ω$ relating pre-treatment trends to the counterfactual outcome. While each choice of $ω$ may be defensible in empirical contexts that motivate a particular method, it relies on fundamentally untestable…

估计目标框架下非随机缺失的处理效应估计AI 解读

The analysis of randomized trials is often complicated by the occurrence of intercurrent events and missing values. Even though there are different strategies to address missing values it is still common to require missing values imputation. In the present article we explore the estimation of treatment effects in RCTs from a causal inference perspective under different missing data mechanisms with a particular emphasis on missings not at random (MNAR). By modelling the…

用贝叶斯混合收缩缓解赢家诅咒AI 解读

A 'Winner's Curse' arises in large-scale online experimentation platforms when the same experiments are used to both select treatments and evaluate their effects. In these settings, classical difference-in-means estimators of treatment effects are upwardly biased and conventional confidence intervals are rendered invalid. The bias scales with the magnitude of sampling variability and the selection threshold, and inversely with the treatment's true effect size. We propose a…

结合生成式人工智能与因果图的用户行为反事实预测AI 解读

This study presents a novel framework for counterfactual user behavior forecasting that combines structural causal models with transformer-based generative artificial intelligence. To model fictitious situations, the method creates causal graphs that map the connections between user interactions, adoption metrics, and product features. The framework generates realistic behavioral trajectories under counterfactual conditions by using generative models that are conditioned on…

因果图不确定时的有效调整集选择AI 解读

Precise knowledge of causal directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) is assumed for standard approaches towards valid adjustment set selection for unbiased estimation, but in practice, the DAG is often inferred from data or expert knowledge, introducing uncertainty. We present techniques to identify valid adjustment sets despite potential errors in the estimated causal graph. Specifically, we assume that only the skeleton of the DAG is known. Under a Bayesian framework, we place a…

多次划分下的训练与检验：分样本估计量的中心极限定理AI 解读

As predictive algorithms grow in popularity, using the same dataset to both train and test a new model has become routine across research, policy, and industry. Sample-splitting attains valid inference on model properties by using separate subsamples to estimate the model and to evaluate it. However, this approach has two drawbacks, since each task uses only part of the data, and different splits can lead to widely different estimates. Averaging across multiple splits, I…

平均导数效应的敏感性分析AI 解读

In observational studies, exposures are often continuous rather than binary or discrete. At the same time, sensitivity analysis is an important tool that can help determine the robustness of a causal conclusion to a certain level of unmeasured confounding, which can never be ruled out in an observational study. Sensitivity analysis approaches for continuous exposures have now been proposed for several causal estimands. In this article, we focus on the average derivative…

整群随机对照试验中平均处理效应估计量的精确方差AI 解读

In cluster randomized controlled trials (CRCT) with a finite populations, the exact design-based variance of the Horvitz-Thompson (HT) estimator for the average treatment effect (ATE) depends on the joint distribution of unobserved cluster-aggregated potential outcomes and is therefore not point-identifiable. We study a common two-stage sampling design-random sampling of clusters followed by sampling units within sampled clusters-with treatment assigned at the cluster level.…

面板数据的反事实预测AI 解读

We address the challenge of forecasting counterfactual outcomes in a panel data with missing entries and temporally dependent latent factors -- a common scenario in causal inference, where estimating unobserved potential outcomes ahead of time is essential. We propose Forecasting Counterfactuals under Stochastic Dynamics (FOCUS), a method that extends traditional matrix completion methods by leveraging time series dynamics of the factors, thereby enhancing the prediction…

考试成绩能否改善教师的学生分轨建议？主分层分析AI 解读

Every year, over one million EU students choose a secondary school track based on teacher recommendations, yet little evidence shows this yields optimal assignments. Using Dutch data, we examine whether access to standardized test scores improves recommendation quality. We develop a Principal-Stratification metric in a quasi-randomized setting, conduct a welfare analysis that flexibly weights short- and long-term losses, and assess principal fairness by examining whether…

利用潜在过程分析同伴效应AI 解读

I study peer effects that arise from irreversible decisions in the absence of a standard social equilibrium. I model a latent sequence of decisions in continuous time and obtain a closed-form expression for the likelihood, which allows to estimate proposed causal estimands. The method avoids linear-in-means regression by modeling the (possibly unobserved) realized direction of causality, whose probability is identified. I provide identification and estimation results under…

DoFlow：用于时间序列干预与反事实预测的流生成模型AI 解读

Time-series forecasting increasingly demands not only accurate observational predictions but also causal forecasting under interventional and counterfactual queries in multivariate systems. We present DoFlow, a flow-based generative model defined over a causal Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) that delivers coherent observational and interventional predictions, as well as counterfactuals through the natural encoding-decoding mechanism of continuous normalizing flows (CNFs). We…