On the Testability of Causal Models with Latent and Instrumental Variables
Artificial Intelligence
2013-02-21 v1
Abstract
Certain causal models involving unmeasured variables induce no independence constraints among the observed variables but imply, nevertheless, inequality contraints on the observed distribution. This paper derives a general formula for such instrumental variables, that is, exogenous variables that directly affect some variables but not all. With the help of this formula, it is possible to test whether a model involving instrumental variables may account for the data, or, conversely, whether a given variables can be deemed instrumental.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1302.4976,
title = {On the Testability of Causal Models with Latent and Instrumental Variables},
author = {Judea Pearl},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.4976},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Appears in Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI1995)