English
Related papers

Related papers: Dynamical systems theory for causal inference with…

200 papers

Discovery of causal relations is fundamental for understanding the dynamics of complex systems. While causal interactions are well defined for acyclic systems that can be separated into causally effective subsystems, a mathematical…

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability · Physics 2017-10-11 Daniel Harnack , Erik Laminski , Klaus Richard Pawelzik

We present a new estimator for causal effects with panel data that builds on insights behind the widely used difference in differences and synthetic control methods. Relative to these methods we find, both theoretically and empirically,…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-09-22 Dmitry Arkhangelsky , Susan Athey , David A. Hirshberg , Guido W. Imbens , Stefan Wager

Many dynamical systems of interest are nonlinear, with examples in turbulence, epidemiology, neuroscience, and finance, making them difficult to control using linear approaches. Model predictive control (MPC) is a powerful model-based…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-08-31 Urban Fasel , Eurika Kaiser , J. Nathan Kutz , Bingni W. Brunton , Steven L. Brunton

In panel experiments, we randomly assign units to different interventions, measuring their outcomes, and repeating the procedure in several periods. Using the potential outcomes framework, we define finite population dynamic causal effects…

Methodology · Statistics 2021-05-28 Iavor Bojinov , Ashesh Rambachan , Neil Shephard

In this paper, we propose a new approach to causal inference with panel data. Instead of using panel data to adjust for differences in the distribution of unobserved heterogeneity between the treated and comparison groups, we instead use…

Econometrics · Economics 2025-12-01 Brantly Callaway , Derek Dyal , Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna , Emmanuel S. Tsyawo

Traditional panel-data causal inference frameworks, such as difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods, rely on pre-intervention data to estimate counterfactual means. However, such data may be unavailable in real-world…

Methodology · Statistics 2026-02-10 Zou Yang , Seung Hee Lee , Julia R. Köhler , AmirEmad Ghassami

A treatment policy defines when and what treatments are applied to affect some outcome of interest. Data-driven decision-making requires the ability to predict what happens if a policy is changed. Existing methods that predict how the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-06-21 Çağlar Hızlı , ST John , Anne Juuti , Tuure Saarinen , Kirsi Pietiläinen , Pekka Marttinen

Shifting away from the traditional mass production approach, the process industry is moving towards more agile, cost-effective and dynamic process operation (next-generation smart plants). This warrants the development of control systems…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-05-10 Lai Wei , Ryan McCloy , Jie Bao

The paper reviews methods that seek to draw causal inference from observational data and demonstrates how they can be applied to empirical problems in engineering research. It presents a framework for causal identification based on the…

Applications · Statistics 2022-11-28 Daniel J Graham

Conducting causal inference with panel data is a core challenge in social science research. We adapt a deep neural architecture for time series forecasting (the N-BEATS algorithm) to more accurately impute the counterfactual evolution of a…

Econometrics · Economics 2024-04-18 Jacob Goldin , Julian Nyarko , Justin Young

The synthetic control method (SCM) is widely used for causal inference with panel data, particularly when the number of treated units is small. It relies on the stable unit treatment value assumption (SUTVA), ruling out spillover effects.…

Econometrics · Economics 2026-03-26 Shosei Sakaguchi , Hayato Tagawa

This article studies experimental design in settings where the experimental units are large aggregate entities (e.g., markets), and only one or a small number of units can be exposed to the treatment. In such settings, randomization of the…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-04-24 Alberto Abadie , Jinglong Zhao

This paper studies inference on treatment effects in panel data settings with unobserved confounding. We model outcome variables through a factor model with random factors and loadings. Such factors and loadings may act as unobserved…

Econometrics · Economics 2023-12-05 Guido W. Imbens , Davide Viviano

For the application of MPC design in on-line regulation or tracking control problems, several studies have attempted to develop an accurate model, and realize adequate uncertainty description of linear or non-linear plants of the processes.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-04-03 Yuanqiang Zhou , Dewei Li , Yugeng Xi , Zhongxue Gan

Improving public policy is one of the key roles of governments, and they can do this in an evidence-based way using administrative data. Causal inference for observational data improves on current practice of using descriptive or predictive…

Applications · Statistics 2023-01-18 Elena Tartaglia , Peter Rankin

This study introduces a data-driven, machine learning-based method to detect suitable control variables and instruments for assessing the causal effect of a treatment on an outcome in observational data. Our approach tests the joint…

Econometrics · Economics 2026-05-20 Nicolas Apfel , Julia Hatamyar , Martin Huber , Jannis Kueck

Researchers are often challenged with assessing the impact of an intervention on an outcome of interest in situations where the intervention is non-randomised, the intervention is only applied to one or few units, the intervention is…

This paper extends the literature on the theoretical properties of synthetic controls to the case of non-linear generative models, showing that the synthetic control estimator is generally biased in such settings. I derive a lower bound for…

Econometrics · Economics 2021-11-23 Oscar Engelbrektson

Knowledge about existence, strength, and dominant direction of causal influences is of paramount importance for understanding complex systems. With limited amounts of realistic data, however, current methods for investigating causal links…

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability · Physics 2020-10-20 Erik Laminski , Klaus R. Pawelzik

Understanding directed temporal interactions in multivariate time series is essential for interpreting complex dynamical systems and the predictive models trained on them. We present Causal-INSIGHT, a model-agnostic, post-hoc interpretation…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-27 Benjamin Redden , Hui Wang , Shuyan Li