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Related papers: Challenges in Obtaining Valid Causal Effect Estima…

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Causal learning is the key to obtaining stable predictions and answering \textit{what if} problems in decision-makings. In causal learning, it is central to seek methods to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) from observational…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-12-07 Yiyan Huang , Cheuk Hang Leung , Qi Wu , Xing Yan

This paper reviews, applies and extends recently proposed methods based on Double Machine Learning (DML) with a focus on program evaluation under unconfoundedness. DML based methods leverage flexible prediction models to adjust for…

Econometrics · Economics 2022-06-06 Michael C. Knaus

Doubly robust estimators of causal effects are a popular means of estimating causal effects. Such estimators combine an estimate of the conditional mean of the outcome given treatment and confounders (the so-called outcome regression) with…

Methodology · Statistics 2019-01-17 David Benkeser , Weixin Cai , Mark J van der Laan

We revisit the classical causal inference problem of estimating the average treatment effect in the presence of fully observed confounding variables using two-stage semiparametric methods. In existing theoretical studies of methods such as…

Methodology · Statistics 2022-05-23 Steve Yadlowsky

Measuring treatment effects in observational studies is challenging because of confounding bias. Confounding occurs when a variable affects both the treatment and the outcome. Traditional methods such as propensity score matching estimate…

Methodology · Statistics 2021-12-23 Bevan I. Smith , Charles Chimedza

Advanced classification algorithms are being increasingly used in safety-critical applications like health-care, engineering, etc. In such applications, miss-classifications made by ML algorithms can result in substantial financial or…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-12-06 Disha Ghandwani , Neeraj Sarna , Yuanyuan Li , Yang Lin

Missing data and confounding are two problems researchers face in observational studies for comparative effectiveness. Williamson et al. (2012) recently proposed a unified approach to handle both issues concurrently using a multiply-robust…

Methodology · Statistics 2020-07-22 Katherine Evans , Isabel Fulcher , Eric J. Tchetgen Tchetgen

The focus of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Machine Learning (ML) methods for two-sample testing with right-censored observations. To achieve this, we develop several ML-based methods with varying architectures and implement…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-09-27 Petr Philonenko , Sergey Postovalov

The use of flexible machine-learning (ML) models to generate imputations of missing data within the framework of Multiple Imputation (MI) has recently gained traction, particularly in observational settings. For randomised controlled trials…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-10-07 Mia S. Tackney , Jonathan W. Bartlett , Elizabeth Williamson , Kim May Lee

This paper proposes a simple, novel, and fully-Bayesian approach for causal inference in partially linear models with high-dimensional control variables. Off-the-shelf machine learning methods can introduce biases in the causal parameter…

Econometrics · Economics 2025-08-19 Francis J. DiTraglia , Laura Liu

Machine-learning (ML) methods now routinely generate regressors used in subsequent econometric analyses, for example, estimated propensity scores, control-function residuals, imputed covariates, learned proxies, or low-dimensional…

Econometrics · Economics 2026-03-17 Juan Carlos Escanciano , Telmo Pérez-Izquierdo

The partitioning of data for estimation and calibration critically impacts the performance of propensity score based estimators like inverse probability weighting (IPW) and double/debiased machine learning (DML) frameworks. We extend recent…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-05-20 Sven Klaassen , Jan Rabenseifner , Jannis Kueck , Philipp Bach

Machine learning (ML) models are increasingly used as decision-support tools in high-risk domains. Evaluating the causal impact of deploying such models can be done with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that randomizes users to ML vs.…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-07-17 Jacob M. Chen , Michael Oberst

This paper explores the use of unstructured, multimodal data, namely text and images, in causal inference and treatment effect estimation. We propose a neural network architecture that is adapted to the double machine learning (DML)…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-06 Sven Klaassen , Jan Teichert-Kluge , Philipp Bach , Victor Chernozhukov , Martin Spindler , Suhas Vijaykumar

We address the challenge of inferring causal effects in social network data. This results in challenges due to interference -- where a unit's outcome is affected by neighbors' treatments -- and network-induced confounding factors. While…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-20 Seyedeh Baharan Khatami , Harsh Parikh , Haowei Chen , Sudeepa Roy , Babak Salimi

While machine learning (ML) methods have received a lot of attention in recent years, these methods are primarily for prediction. Empirical researchers conducting policy evaluations are, on the other hand, pre-occupied with causal problems,…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-03-04 Noemi Kreif , Karla DiazOrdaz

Unmeasured confounding presents a common challenge in observational studies, potentially making standard causal parameters unidentifiable without additional assumptions. Given the increasing availability of diverse data sources, exploiting…

Methodology · Statistics 2023-09-18 Shanshan Luo , Yechi Zhang , Wei Li

Proper hyperparameter tuning is essential for achieving optimal performance of modern machine learning (ML) methods in predictive tasks. While there is an extensive literature on tuning ML learners for prediction, there is only little…

Econometrics · Economics 2024-02-08 Philipp Bach , Oliver Schacht , Victor Chernozhukov , Sven Klaassen , Martin Spindler

As machine learning (ML) systems increasingly permeate high-stakes settings such as healthcare, transportation, military, and national security, concerns regarding their reliability have emerged. Despite notable progress, the performance of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-01 Anthony Corso , David Karamadian , Romeo Valentin , Mary Cooper , Mykel J. Kochenderfer

One way to quantify exposure to air pollution and its constituents in epidemiologic studies is to use an individual's nearest monitor. This strategy results in potential inaccuracy in the actual personal exposure, introducing bias in…