Adaptive designs dynamically update treatment probabilities using information accumulated during the experiment. Existing theory for causal inference from adaptive experiments primarily assumes the superpopulation framework with independent and identically distributed units, and may not apply when the distribution of units evolves over time. This paper makes two contributions. First, we extend the literature to the finite-population framework, which allows for possibly nonexchangeable units, and establish the design-based theory for causal inference under general adaptive designs using inverse-propensity-weighted (IPW) and augmented IPW (AIPW) estimators. Our theory accommodates nonexchangeable units, both nonconverging and vanishing treatment probabilities, and nonconverging outcome estimators, thereby justifying inference using AIPW estimators with black-box outcome models that integrate advances from machine learning methods. To alleviate the conservativeness inherent in variance estimation under finite-population inference, we also introduce a covariance estimator for the AIPW estimator that becomes sharp when the residuals from the adaptive regression of potential outcomes on covariates are additive across units. Our framework encompasses widely used adaptive designs, such as multi-armed bandits, covariate-adaptive randomization, and sequential rerandomization, advancing the design-based theory for causal inference in these specific settings. Second, as a methodological contribution, we propose an adaptive covariate adjustment approach for analyzing even nonadaptive designs. The martingale structure induced by adaptive adjustment enables valid inference with black-box outcome estimators that would otherwise require strong assumptions under standard nonadaptive analysis.
Causal inference is a science with multi-disciplinary evolution and applications. On the one hand, it measures effects of treatments in observational data based on experimental designs and rigorous statistical inference to draw causal statements. One of the most influential framework in quantifying causal effects is the potential outcomes framework. On the other hand, causal graphical models utilizes directed edges to represent causalities and encodes conditional independence relationships among variables in the graphs. A series of research has been done both in reading-off conditional indepen…
The literature for count modeling provides useful tools to conduct causal inference when outcomes take non-negative integer values. Applied to the potential outcomes framework, we link the Bayesian causal inference literature to statistical models for count data. We discuss the general architectural considerations for constructing the predictive posterior of the missing potential outcomes. Special considerations for estimating average treatment effects are discussed, some generalizing certain relationships and some not yet encountered in the causal inference literature.
Inferring causal effects of treatments is a central goal in many disciplines. The potential outcomes framework is a main statistical approach to causal inference, in which a causal effect is defined as a comparison of the potential outcomes of the same units under different treatment conditions. Because for each unit at most one of the potential outcomes is observed and the rest are missing, causal inference is inherently a missing data problem. Indeed, there is a close analogy in the terminology and the inferential framework between causal inference and missing data. Despite the intrinsic con…
We develop finite-population asymptotic theory for covariate adjustment in randomization-based causal inference for 2K factorial designs. In particular, we confirm that both the unadjusted and covariate-adjusted estimators of the factorial effects are asymptotically normal, and the latter is more precise than the former.
It is important to draw causal inference from observational studies, which, however, becomes challenging if the confounders have missing values. Generally, causal effects are not identifiable if the confounders are missing not at random. We propose a novel framework to nonparametrically identify causal effects with confounders subject to an outcome-independent missingness, that is, the missing data mechanism is independent of the outcome, given the treatment and possibly missing confounders. We then propose a nonparametric two-stage least squares estimator and a parametric estimator for causal…
This paper develops a multiply robust (MR) dose-response estimator for causal inference problems involving multivalued treatments. We combine a family of generalised propensity score (GPS) models and a family of outcome regression (OR) models to achieve an average potential outcomes estimator that is consistent if just one of the GPS or OR models in each family is correctly specified. We provide proofs and simulations that demonstrate multiple robustness in the context of multivalued causal inference problems.
Integrating data from multiple heterogeneous sources has become increasingly popular to achieve a large sample size and diverse study population. This paper reviews development in causal inference methods that combines multiple datasets collected by potentially different designs from potentially heterogeneous populations. We summarize recent advances on combining randomized clinical trial with external information from observational studies or historical controls, combining samples when no single sample has all relevant variables with application to two-sample Mendelian randomization, distribu…
Spurious association arises from covariance between propensity for the treatment and individual risk for the outcome. For sensitivity analysis with stochastic counterfactuals we introduce a methodology to characterize uncertainty in causal inference from natural experiments and quasi-experiments. Our sensitivity parameters are standardized measures of variation in propensity and individual risk, and one minus their geometric mean is an intuitive measure of randomness in the data generating process. Within our latent propensity-risk model, we show how to compute from contingency table data a th…
Spurred on by recent successes in causal inference competitions, Bayesian nonparametric (and high-dimensional) methods have recently seen increased attention in the causal inference literature. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of Bayesian nonparametric applications to causal inference. Our aims are to (i) introduce the fundamental Bayesian nonparametric toolkit; (ii) discuss how to determine which tool is most appropriate for a given problem; and (iii) show how to avoid common pitfalls in applying Bayesian nonparametric methods in high-dimensional settings. Unlike standard fi…
We study Bayesian approaches to causal inference via propensity score regression. Much of the Bayesian literature on propensity score methods have relied on approaches that cannot be viewed as fully Bayesian in the context of conventional `likelihood times prior' posterior inference; in addition, most methods rely on parametric and distributional assumptions, and presumed correct specification. We emphasize that causal inference is typically carried out in settings of mis-specification, and develop strategies for fully Bayesian inference that reflect this. We focus on methods based on decision…
Causal inference from observational data can be viewed as a missing data problem arising from a hypothetical population-scale randomized trial matched to the observational study. This links a target trial protocol with a corresponding generative predictive model for inference, providing a complete framework for transparent communication of causal assumptions and statistical uncertainty on treatment effects, without the need for counterfactuals. The intuitive foundation for the work is that a whole population randomized trial would provide answers to any observable causal question with certaint…
In causal estimation problems, the parameter of interest is often only partially identified, implying that the parameter cannot be recovered exactly, even with infinite data. Here, we study Bayesian inference for partially identified treatment effects in multi-treatment causal inference problems with unobserved confounding. In principle, inferring the partially identified treatment effects is natural under the Bayesian paradigm, but the results can be highly sensitive to parameterization and prior specification, often in surprising ways. It is thus essential to understand which aspects of the …
Understanding causal relationships is one of the most important goals of modern science. So far, the causal inference literature has focused almost exclusively on outcomes coming from the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^p$. However, it is increasingly common that complex datasets are best summarized as data points in non-linear spaces. In this paper, we present a novel framework of causal effects for outcomes from the Wasserstein space of cumulative distribution functions, which in contrast to the Euclidean space, is non-linear. We develop doubly robust estimators and associated asymptotic theory …
The results from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) on thousands of phenotypes provide an unprecedented opportunity to infer the causal effect of one phenotype (exposure) on another (outcome). Mendelian randomization (MR), an instrumental variable (IV) method, has been introduced for causal inference using GWAS data. Due to the polygenic architecture of complex traits/diseases and the ubiquity of pleiotropy, however, MR has many unique challenges compared to conventional IV methods. We propose a Bayesian weighted Mendelian randomization (BWMR) for causal inference to address these challeng…
Causal inference has received great attention across different fields from economics, statistics, education, medicine, to machine learning. Within this area, inferring causal effects at individual level in observational studies has become an important task, especially in high dimensional settings. In this paper, we propose a framework for estimating Individualized Treatment Effects in high-dimensional non-experimental data. We provide both theoretical and empirical justifications, the latter by comparing our framework with current best-performing methods. Our proposed framework rivals the stat…
Causal inference on multiple non-independent outcomes raises serious challenges, because multivariate techniques that properly account for the outcome's dependence structure need to be considered. We focus on the case of binary outcomes framing our discussion in the potential outcome approach to causal inference. We define causal effects of treatment on joint outcomes introducing the notion of product outcomes. We also discuss a decomposition of the causal effect on product outcomes into intrinsic and extrinsic causal effects, which respectively provide information on treatment effect on the i…
Under the potential outcomes framework, we introduce matched-pair factorial designs, and propose the matched-pair estimator of the factorial effects. We also calculate the randomization-based covariance matrix of the matched-pair estimator, and provide the "Neymanian" estimator of the covariance matrix.
Complex dynamical systems are prevalent in many scientific disciplines. In the analysis of such systems two aspects are of particular interest: 1) the temporal patterns along which they evolve and 2) the underlying causal mechanisms. Time-series representations like discrete Fourier and wavelet transforms have been widely applied in order to obtain insights on the temporal structure of complex dynamical systems. Questions of cause and effect can be formalized in the causal inference framework. We propose an elementary and systematic approach to combine time-series representations with causal i…
For binary experimental data, we discuss randomization-based inferential procedures that do not need to invoke any modeling assumptions. We also introduce methods for likelihood and Bayesian inference based solely on the physical randomization without any hypothetical super population assumptions about the potential outcomes. These estimators have some properties superior to moment-based ones such as only giving estimates in regions of feasible support. Due to the lack of identification of the causal model, we also propose a sensitivity analysis approach which allows for the characterization o…
Instrumental variable methods are widely used for inferring the causal effect in the presence of unmeasured confounders. Existing instrumental variable methods for nonlinear outcome models require stringent identifiability conditions. This paper considers a flexible semi-parametric potential outcome model that allows for possibly invalid instruments. We propose new identifiability conditions to identify the causal parameters when the majority of the instrumental variables are valid. We devise a novel inference procedure for a new average structural function and the conditional average treatmen…
Many causal models of interest in epidemiology involve longitudinal exposures, confounders and mediators. However, repeated measurements are not always available or used in practice, leading analysts to overlook the time-varying nature of exposures and work under over-simplified causal models. Our objective is to assess whether - and how - causal effects identified under such misspecified causal models relates to true causal effects of interest. We derive sufficient conditions ensuring that the quantities estimated in practice under over-simplified causal models can be expressed as weighted av…
This paper proposes a causal inference relation and causal programming as general frameworks for causal inference with structural causal models. A tuple, $\langle M, I, Q, F \rangle$, is an instance of the relation if a formula, $F$, computes a causal query, $Q$, as a function of known population probabilities, $I$, in every model entailed by a set of model assumptions, $M$. Many problems in causal inference can be viewed as the problem of enumerating instances of the relation that satisfy given criteria. This unifies a number of previously studied problems, including causal effect identificat…
This paper provides a critical review of the Bayesian perspective of causal inference based on the potential outcomes framework. We review the causal estimands, identification assumptions, the general structure of Bayesian inference of causal effects, and sensitivity analysis. We highlight issues that are unique to Bayesian causal inference, including the role of the propensity score, definition of identifiability, the choice of priors in both low and high dimensional regimes. We point out the central role of covariate overlap and more generally the design stage in Bayesian causal inference. W…
Under a general structural equation framework for causal inference, we provide a definition of the causal effect of a variable X on another variable Y, and propose an approach to estimate this causal effect via the use of instrumental variables.
This brief note documents the data generating processes used in the 2017 Data Analysis Challenge associated with the Atlantic Causal Inference Conference (ACIC). The focus of the challenge was estimation and inference for conditional average treatment effects (CATEs) in the presence of targeted selection, which leads to strong confounding. The associated data files and further plots can be found on the first author's web page.
This paper presents a topological learning-theoretic perspective on causal inference by introducing a series of topologies defined on general spaces of structural causal models (SCMs). As an illustration of the framework we prove a topological causal hierarchy theorem, showing that substantive assumption-free causal inference is possible only in a meager set of SCMs. Thanks to a known correspondence between open sets in the weak topology and statistically verifiable hypotheses, our results show that inductive assumptions sufficient to license valid causal inferences are statistically unverifia…
University of California, Los Angeles（加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校）
This paper addresses the problem of measurement errors in causal inference and highlights several algebraic and graphical methods for eliminating systematic bias induced by such errors. In particulars, the paper discusses the control of partially observable confounders in parametric and non parametric models and the computational problem of obtaining bias-free effect estimates in such models.
We introduce new quantities for exploratory causal inference between bivariate time series. The quantities, called penchants and leanings, are computationally straightforward to apply, follow directly from assumptions of probabilistic causality, do not depend on any assumed models for the time series generating process, and do not rely on any embedding procedures; these features may provide a clearer interpretation of the results than those from existing time series causality tools. The penchant and leaning are computed based on a structured method for computing probabilities.
Hahn et al. (2020) offers an extensive study to explicate and evaluate the performance of the BCF model in different settings and provides a detailed discussion about its utility in causal inference. It is a welcomed addition to the causal machine learning literature. I will emphasize the contribution of the BCF model to the field of causal inference through discussions on two topics: 1) the difference between the PS in the BCF model and the Bayesian PS in a Bayesian updating approach, 2) an alternative exposition of the role of the PS in outcome modeling based methods for the estimation of ca…
In this paper we develop statistical methods for causal inference in epidemics. Our focus is in estimating the effect of social mobility on deaths in the Covid-19 pandemic. We propose a marginal structural model motivated by a modified version of a basic epidemic model. We estimate the counterfactual time series of deaths under interventions on mobility. We conduct several types of sensitivity analyses. We find that the data support the idea that reduced mobility causes reduced deaths, but the conclusion comes with caveats. There is evidence of sensitivity to model misspecification and unmeasu…
Conventional methods in causal effect inferencetypically rely on specifying a valid set of control variables. When this set is unknown or misspecified, inferences will be erroneous. We propose a method for inferring average causal effects when all potential confounders are observed, but thecontrol variables are unknown. When the data-generating process belongs to the class of acyclical linear structural causal models, we prove that themethod yields asymptotically valid confidence intervals. Our results build upon a smooth characterization of linear directed acyclic graphs. We verify the capabi…
The abundance of data produced daily from large variety of sources has boosted the need of novel approaches on causal inference analysis from observational data. Observational data often contain noisy or missing entries. Moreover, causal inference studies may require unobserved high-level information which needs to be inferred from other observed attributes. In such cases, inaccuracies of the applied inference methods will result in noisy outputs. In this study, we propose a novel approach for causal inference when one or more key variables are noisy. Our method utilizes the knowledge about th…
We introduce computational causal inference as an interdisciplinary field across causal inference, algorithms design and numerical computing. The field aims to develop software specializing in causal inference that can analyze massive datasets with a variety of causal effects, in a performant, general, and robust way. The focus on software improves research agility, and enables causal inference to be easily integrated into large engineering systems. In particular, we use computational causal inference to deepen the relationship between causal inference, online experimentation, and algorithmic …
National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）；ByteDance AI Lab（字节跳动人工智能实验室）；AWS AI Labs（亚马逊云科技人工智能实验室）
Data scarcity is a tremendous challenge in causal effect estimation. In this paper, we propose to exploit additional data sources to facilitate estimating causal effects in the target population. Specifically, we leverage additional source datasets which share similar causal mechanisms with the target observations to help infer causal effects of the target population. We propose three levels of knowledge transfer, through modelling the outcomes, treatments, and confounders. To achieve consistent positive transfer, we introduce learnable parametric transfer factors to adaptively control the tra…
A framework for causal inference from two-level factorial designs is proposed. The framework utilizes the concept of potential outcomes that lies at the center stage of causal inference and extends Neyman's repeated sampling approach for estimation of causal effects and randomization tests based on Fisher's sharp null hypothesis to the case of 2-level factorial experiments. The framework allows for statistical inference from a finite population, permits definition and estimation of estimands other than "average factorial effects" and leads to more flexible inference procedures than those based…
