每日简报

双向固定效应回归估计了什么？数值等价关系的启示AI 解读

Summary This paper develops numerical and causal interpretations of two-way fixed effects (TWFE) regressions in settings with nonbinary, nonstaggered treatments and time-varying covariates. Using the equivalence between TWFE and pooled first-difference (FD) regressions, I express the TWFE coefficient as a weighted average of FD coefficients across all horizons, clarifying how short- and long-run changes contribute to the estimate. Causal interpretation of the TWFE…

STRAP：利用随机投影的多元同质性平滑检验AI 解读

In this paper, we propose STRAP (Smooth Tests using RAdom Projections), projected smooth tests for the equality of two multivariate distributions. We employ random projections to map the multivariate data into one-dimensional data and transform the projected data via the probability integral transformation. Under the null hypothesis of homogeneity, the transformed data follow the standard uniform distribution, reducing the problem to testing for uniformity. Building on…

断点差分设计中的分位数处理效应AI 解读

Summary This paper studies identification and doubly robust (DR) estimation of quantile treatment effects (QTEs) in difference-in-discontinuities (diff-in-disc) designs when a new treatment is introduced in the post period and a confounding discontinuous policy is present in both periods. We show that QTEs are point identified under a conditional stable-distributional-effect assumption for the confounding treatment, a restriction that is analogous to the distributional…

切片 Lp 分布平衡方法AI 解读

A popular class of causal inference methods addresses confounding through weighting, which reweights treated and control groups to balance their covariate distributions without using outcome information, thereby preserving a design-based perspective. In this paper, we propose sliced $L^p$ distributional balancing (SLDB), a family indexed by $p\in[1,\infty)$ that measures imbalance by averaging squared $L^p$ distances between the cumulative distribution functions of…

IV-LASSO 的工具变量字典与惩罚选择AI 解读

Estimating the first stage of an instrumental variables (IV) model with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) requires choosing a dictionary of technical instruments and a penalty level. First-order asymptotic theory offers no guidance on these choices, as any consistent implementation yields a structural parameter estimator with the same limiting distribution. In finite samples, however, these choices can have a substantial impact on the resulting…

利用矩阵自回归分析动态多层网络结构：国家间互动案例AI 解读

Dynamic and multilayer networks have been widely studied separately, but their joint analysis remains comparatively underdeveloped. Because the relational information of a dynamic multilayer network can be represented as a tensor at each time point $t$, each layer can be summarized through a set of structural statistics, yielding a matrix-valued observation and, consequently, a matrix-valued time series. To exploit this structure, we propose the use of matrix autoregressive…

病例对照抽样下的回顾性因果归因AI 解读

The probability of necessity PN quantifies the probability that an exposed individual who experienced an outcome would not have experienced it in the absence of exposure. Case-control studies are an important resource for investigating etiologic questions, but their sampling design can introduce selection bias and complicate the statistical inference for PN.In this paper, we develop a nonparametric framework for identification and efficient estimation of PN under…

因果树与因果森林的中位数分裂规则AI 解读

Heavy-tailed and skewed outcomes are common in the randomized experiments and observational studies used to estimate heterogeneous treatment effects, yet the mean-squared-error criterion that guides splitting in honest causal trees is sensitive to the extreme values they generate. Building on the causal forest framework (Athey and Imbens, 2016; Wager and Athey, 2018), we introduce the Median Squared Deviation (MSD) criterion, which replaces the leafwise difference in means…

空间处理的实验设计AI 解读

Spatial treatments are interventions assigned to locations potentially distinct from those of the responding units. We study their optimal design under a general model in which a unit's response diminishes with distance to a treated site. Our estimand of interest is an ``uncontaminated'' effect equal to the average impact of a single intervention site over all hypothetical sites. We propose a novel design based on a Matérn point process which separates treatments by a…

政策收益还是家庭需要：中国低保项目的分配逻辑AI 解读

When social assistance is scarce, should it prioritize households in greatest need or those expected to benefit most? Using panel data from the China Household Finance Survey, we distinguish allocation principles by combining predicted policy gains with entry into China's Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (Dibao). We estimate heterogeneous predicted gains in consumption and education and then recover the conditional priorities revealed by recipient selection. Predicted gains…

This paper presents a causal decision framework for list-price elasticities in intermediated retail channels, where estimates are confounded by promotions, competitor moves and shopkeeper pass-through. Rather than forcing a number when the evidence is ambiguous, the system treats abstention (Wait) as an active diagnostic output. Built on Double Machine Learning and conformal prediction, it evaluates whether conditions exist to act on a recommended price or whether…

随机实验中的协变量调整：决策与实践的统一框架AI 解读

Should researchers adjust for covariates in randomized experiments, and if so, how? The literature offers three distinct prescriptions: do not adjust because randomization guarantees unbiasedness; adjust for outcome-prognostic covariates to improve precision; or adjust for covariates imbalanced between treatment arms. These competing prescriptions create confusion and uncertainty. We develop a unified framework for decision and practice. Given available information, we show…

平均处理效应的局部化：合成控制中的投影方法AI 解读

Many real-world policies and business interventions require assessing short-term effects to inform timely decisions, even though most causal inference methods focus on long-term average treatment effects. In this paper, we introduce average treatment effect localization (ATEL), which captures localized, short-term policy impacts in panel data settings with a single treated unit and provides early indicators of policy impact. To accommodate both time-varying and nonlinear…

预期高安慰剂反应时安慰剂对照随机试验的因果效应估计AI 解读

In placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials (RCTs), the placebo response significantly modifies treatment effects and diminishes the intention-to-treat (ITT) treatment effect, $Δ_{ITT}$. This study presents a novel two-stage framework for estimating the standardized causal treatment effect, $Δ_{STD}$, among the ITT population, under the assumption that their placebo responses are similar to the levels of self-administering medication at home. The first stage employs a…

通过倾向得分分块实现差分隐私平均处理效应估计AI 解读

Average treatment effect (ATE) estimation in observational studies is a fundamental statistical tool used frequently in social science, medicine, and other fields. These fields often work with sensitive data where privacy protections are important, so a differentially private mechanism for ATE estimation is highly desirable. Here we present two propensity score-based algorithms for ATE estimation on observational data, one improving the inverse probability weighting (IPW)…

基于正交机器学习的非参数异质性因果中介分析AI 解读

Causal mediation analysis decomposes the total effect of an intervention on an outcome into a direct pathway and an indirect pathway transmitted through a mediator, but standard methods typically summarize these pathways using population average effects. In many applications, however, the indirect effect may vary substantially across individual profiles. We propose an orthogonal statistical learning framework for estimating heterogeneous causal mediation effects conditional…

线性分位数面板模型的识别AI 解读

This paper studies identification in linear quantile panel models with unrestricted individual heterogeneity when the number of time periods is fixed and small. We impose strict exogeneity, whereby the conditional quantile restriction holds given the individual's complete regressor history and latent individual effect, but otherwise allow the disturbances to be arbitrarily dependent over time.

面向政策选择的实验设计AI 解读

We show how to optimally design experiments when the resulting data will be used to choose a welfare-maximizing policy subject to constraints. A decision maker seeks to maximize Bayes expected welfare by choosing a policy whose effects depend on an unknown finite-dimensional parameter. The decision maker has access to a first wave of experimental data with a fixed design but may choose the design of a second wave that will be collected before choosing the policy. The…

协变量自适应随机化中的离散化：收益与损失AI 解读

Covariate-adaptive randomization(CAR) is widely implemented in clinical trials to balance prognostic covariates across treatment arms. Continuous covariates are often discretized into strata in practice, yet their consequences are not clearly understood. This paper provides a comprehensive study of the impact of discretization on both the CAR design process and the inferential results thereafter. We establish the asymptotic properties of both imbalance measures and treatment…

生存结局的隐私保护因果元中介分析AI 解读

Privacy and data-governance constraints often prevent pooling individual-level data across studies, limiting the use of conventional approaches for causal media- tion analysis in multicenter settings. We propose a federated causal meta-mediation framework for right-censored time-to-event outcomes that enables collaborative es- timation without sharing individual-level data. Our framework targets natural indirect effects in a prespecified population by combining information…

生成式营销组合建模：连接生成引擎优化、营销与业务影响AI 解读

Generative artificial intelligence changes how firms reach customers, but standard marketing data do not record how often users see and notice a firm's name in generated answers. We develop Generative Marketing Mix Modeling (GMMM) to estimate the causal effects of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Generative Engine Marketing (GEM). For GEO, GMMM combines repeated generated answers with question counts, shares of use across generative systems, and notice probabilities.…

不可转移效用双边网络形成模型的矩条件AI 解读

This paper investigates the construction of moment restrictions in dyadic network formation models with unobserved individual heterogeneity under nontransferable utility. Using observed links and covariates from five-node pentads, we construct moment restrictions that do not depend on individual fixed effects. For a broad class of covariate specifications, the construction is minimal in the sense that it uses the least possible number of nodes and dyads. Based on these…

无排除限制时利用分布变动进行识别AI 解读

This paper studies identification and inference in a triangular system with an endogenous regressor when exclusion restrictions are unavailable and the dependence between structural disturbances is modeled through an unrestricted control function. In this setting, standard orthogonality conditions do not deliver point identification, as the unknown control function can rationalize a wide range of structural coefficients. We show that identifying information can be extracted…

合成最近邻：非随机缺失数据下的合成控制与矩阵补全AI 解读

We develop a causal framework for matrix completion under missing not at random (MNAR) data. Drawing on synthetic controls from the econometric panel data literature, our approach relaxes two assumptions common in MNAR matrix completion: positivity and independence of observation indicators. Unlike traditional panel data models, which often require prescribed block-sparse geometries, our framework accommodates flexible, heterogeneous observation patterns through…