每日简报

存在未观测空间变化混杂时处理效应的可识别性AI 解读

The study of causal effects in the presence of unmeasured spatially varying confounders has garnered increasing attention. However, a general framework for identifiability, which is critical for reliable causal inference from observational data, has yet to be advanced. In this paper, we study a linear model with various parametric model assumptions on the covariance structure between the unmeasured confounder and the exposure of interest. We establish identifiability of the…

对假设进行压力测试：因果推断中的贝叶斯敏感性分析指南AI 解读

While observational data are routinely used to estimate causal effects of biomedical treatments, doing so requires special methods to adjust for observed confounding. These methods invariably rely on untestable statistical and causal identification assumptions. When these assumptions do not hold, sensitivity analysis methods can be used to characterize how different violations may change our inferences. The Bayesian approach to sensitivity analyses in causal inference has…

现实工作流程约束下的纵向因果发现AI 解读

Causal discovery has achieved substantial theoretical progress, yet its deployment in large-scale longitudinal systems remains limited. A key obstacle is that operational data are generated under institutional workflows whose induced partial orders are rarely formalized, enlarging the admissible graph space in ways inconsistent with the recording process. We characterize a workflow-induced constraint class for longitudinal causal discovery that restricts the admissible…

使用双重机器学习的双重差分中介分析AI 解读

We propose a difference-in-differences (DiD) framework with mediation for possibly multivalued discrete or continuous treatments and mediators, aimed at identifying the direct effect of the treatment on the outcome (net of effects operating through the mediator), the indirect effect via the mediator, and the joint effects of treatment and mediator, consistent with the framework of dynamic treatment effects. Identification relies on a conditional parallel trends assumption…

中国土地市场中的反腐执法与出让机制选择AI 解读

Upon taking office in late 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched one of the most intensive anticorruption campaigns in the history of the People's Republic of China. Prior to the campaign, China's land market suffered from corruption, particularly surrounding sale method selection (auction versus listing). Listing is a two-stage sale mechanism that prior research has identified as more susceptible to corruption, leading to lower prices. This paper examines the…

自遮蔽非随机缺失混杂变量下的因果推断：分层偏移插补倾向估计AI 解读

In observational studies, causal inference becomes difficult when confounders are missing-not-at-random (MNAR), particularly where the missingness depends on the confounder's own unreported value (self-masking). Existing methods for handling MNAR confounders often rely on strong, unverifiable assumptions, leading to biased estimates. We propose a simple approach with Stratified Delta-Imputed Propensity Estimator (SDIPE) in the presence of self-masking confounders. SDIPE…

估计长期处理效应的替代指标指数法：敏感性分析AI 解读

This paper develops a sensitivity analysis of the surrogacy assumption for the surrogate index approach in Athey et al. [2025b]. We introduce "Weighted Surrogate Indices (WSIs)," the analog of the surrogate index under the surrogacy assumption. We show that under comparability, the ATE on WSI identifies the ATE on the long-term outcome when a copula of the treatment and the long-term outcome conditional on baseline covariates and surrogates is known. When the copula is…

隐藏在眼前：不可折叠性如何使网络元分析的处理效应产生偏差AI 解读

Network meta-analysis (NMA) is widely used to compare multiple interventions simultaneously by synthesizing direct and indirect evidence. The general fixed or random effects contrast-based NMA model can be applied to different outcomes and data structures by opting for either an arm-based or contrast-based likelihood depending on the data available. Depending on the outcome and link-function, we estimate either collapsible or non-collapsible effect measures. Using an…

如何解释净生存率：实际估计目标与通常理解的差异AI 解读

Net survival is conventionally defined as ``survival if cancer were the only possible cause of death'', an estimand corresponding to cancer-specific mortality alone. The Pohar Perme estimator targets this by removing general population other-cause mortality from observed total mortality, but achieves it only when cancer patients experience the same other-cause mortality as the general population. However, cancer patients often experience elevated other-cause mortality due to…

固定效应模型的刀切法推断AI 解读

This paper develops a general method of inference for fixed effects models which is (i) automatic, (ii) computationally inexpensive, (iii) tuning parameter-free, and (iv) highly model agnostic. Specifically, we show how to combine a collection of subsample estimators into a jackknife $t$-statistic, from which hypothesis tests, confidence intervals, and $p$-values are readily obtained.

因果泛函中变量离散化导致的粗化偏差AI 解读

Causal identification functionals often require integration over conditional densities of continuous variables, such as those arising in nonparametric identification theory of total and mediated causal effects in DAGs with hidden variables. Estimating these densities and evaluating the resulting integrals can be statistically and computationally demanding. A common workaround is to discretize the continuous variable and replace integrals with finite sums. Although…

模型不确定性下因果效应的稳健加权三角验证AI 解读

A fundamental challenge in causal inference with observational data is correct specification of a causal model. When there is model uncertainty, analysts may seek to use estimates from multiple candidate models that rely on distinct, and possibly partially overlapping, sets of identifying assumptions to infer the causal effect, a process known as triangulation. Principled methods for triangulation, however, remain underdeveloped. Here, we develop a framework for causal…

均值线性模型中朋友的朋友工具变量的实证挑战AI 解读

In the linear-in-means model, endogeneity arises naturally due to the reflection problem. A common solution is to use Instrumental Variables (IVs) based on higher-order network links, such as using friends-of-friends' characteristics. In this paper, we show that such instruments are unlikely to work well in many applied settings due to a specific sparse/dense-network mechanism: in extremely sparse networks, friends-of-friends instruments may become degenerate, while in…

高维处理下的因果推断AI 解读

In this work, we consider causal inference in various high-dimensional treatment settings, including for single multi-valued treatments and vector treatments with binary or continuous components, when the number of treatments can be comparable to or even larger than the number of observations. These settings bring unique challenges: first, the treatment effects of interest are represented by a high-dimensional vector rather than a scalar; second, positivity violations are…

对提前反应与平行趋势违背的联合敏感性分析AI 解读

Two key identifying assumptions used to justify difference-in-differences are parallel trends and no anticipation, yet both may fail in practice. I propose a class of assumptions that constitute deviations from no anticipation and derive closed-form, sharp bounds for several common treatment effect parameters while simultaneously relaxing parallel trends. Deviations from both assumptions are jointly disciplined using observed pre-trends. When some anticipation is imposed,…

广义贝叶斯政策学习AI 解读

This study proposes a General Bayes framework for policy learning. We consider decision problems in which a decision-maker chooses an action from a given set to maximize expected welfare. Typical examples include treatment choice and portfolio optimization. In such problems, the statistical target is a decision rule, and predicting each potential outcome is not necessarily of primary interest. We formulate this policy-learning problem through loss-based Bayesian updating.…

因果生存分析中的处理效应估计：实践建议AI 解读

The restricted mean survival time (RMST) difference offers an interpretable causal contrast to estimate the treatment effect for time-to-event outcomes, yet a wide range of available estimators leaves limited guidance for practice. We provide a unified review of RMST estimators for randomized trials and observational studies, establish identification and asymptotic properties, and supply new derivations where needed. Our extensive simulation study compares simple…

工具变量回归中的弱工具稳健子向量推断：LM 检验与 AR 置信集性质AI 解读

We propose a weak-instrument-robust subvector Lagrange multiplier test for instrumental variables regression. We show that it is asymptotically size-correct under a technical condition or as the number of instruments grows to infinity. This is the first weak-instrument-robust subvector test for instrumental variables regression to recover the degrees of freedom of the commonly used non-weak-instrument-robust Wald test. Additionally, we provide a closed-form solution for…

现代因果推断与数据整合中的局部过度识别及效率增益AI 解读

This paper studies nonparametric local (over-)identification and the semiparametric efficiency in modern causal frameworks. We develop a unified approach that begins by translating structural models with latent variables into their induced statistical models of observables and then analyzes local overidentification through conditional moment restrictions. We apply this approach to three popular classes of causal models: (1) the general treatment model under unconfoundedness;…

测量误差下凹分布函数的推断AI 解读

We propose an estimator of a concave cumulative distribution function under the measurement error model, where the non-negative variables of interest are perturbed by additive independent random noise. The estimator is defined as the least concave majorant on the positive half-line of the deconvolution estimator of the distribution function. We show its uniform consistency and its square root convergence in law in $\ell_\infty(\mathbb R)$. To assess the validity of the…

数据共享下如何选择更好的老虎机算法：A/B 实验何时有效？AI 解读

We study A/B experiments that are designed to compare the performance of two recommendation algorithms. Prior work has observed that the stable unit treatment value assumption (SUTVA) often does not hold in large-scale recommendation systems, and hence the estimate for the global treatment effect (GTE) is biased. Specifically, units under the treatment and control algorithms contribute to a shared pool of data that subsequently train both algorithms, resulting in…

区间结果下的预测集与共形推断AI 解读

Given data on a random variable \(Y\), a prediction set with miscoverage level \(α\in (0,1)\) is a set that contains a new draw of \(Y\) with probability \(1-α\). Among all prediction sets satisfying this coverage property, the oracle prediction set is the one with minimal volume. The oracle prediction set offers a complementary view of the distribution of \(Y\), beyond point estimators such as the mean and quantiles, and has attracted considerable interest recently. This…

从析因实验外推单一处理效应AI 解读

Despite their cost, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely regarded as gold-standard evidence in disciplines ranging from social science to medicine. In recent decades, researchers have increasingly sought to reduce the resource burden of repeated RCTs with factorial designs that simultaneously test multiple hypotheses, e.g. experiments that evaluate the effects of many medications or products simultaneously. Here I show that when multiple interventions are…

利用核岭回归实现最优且结构自适应的条件处理效应估计AI 解读

We propose an optimal algorithm for estimating conditional average treatment effects (CATEs) when response functions lie in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). We study settings in which the contrast function is structurally simpler than the nuisance functions: (i) it lies in a lower-complexity RKHS with faster eigenvalue decay, (ii) it satisfies a source condition relative to the nuisance kernel, or (iii) it depends on a known low-dimensional covariate…