Estimates causal effects with selection bias and confounding using regression.
problem Estimating causal effects in presence of selection bias and confounding.
method Two-step regression estimator (TSR) that corrects for selection bias and accounts for confounding.
result TSR estimator reduces variance and is validated in simulations.
Develops Austen plots for assessing bias from unobserved confounding in observational studies.
problem Bias in causal estimates due to unobserved confounding.
method Formalizes confounding strength, uses Austen plots to visualize and quantify bias.
result Allows domain experts to assess the plausibility of strong confounders.
Proposes tests to control confounding bias in predictive models.
problem Lack of non-parametric tests for confounding bias in predictive modeling.
method Partial and full confounder tests for probing null hypotheses of unconfounded and fully confounded models.
result Reveals previously unreported or hard-to-correct confounders in machine learning models.
A new algorithm CAP learns optimal policies from observational data with confounding bias and missing observations.
problem Offline contextual bandit with confounding bias and missing observations.
method CAP policy learning, forming reward function as solution of integral equation system, building confidence set, and greedily taking action with pessimism.
result Developed an upper bound to the suboptimality of CAP for the offline contextual bandit problem.
This paper corrects climate model biases using a factor model approach.
problem Systematic biases in GCM outputs due to unobserved confounders.
method Factor model approach to learn latent confounders from historical data and apply them to enhance bias correction.
result Significant improvements in the accuracy of precipitation outputs.
Paper tackles treatment leakage in text-based causal inference, proposing methods to mitigate bias.
problem Treatment leakage in text-as-confounder applications introduces bias in causal estimates.
method Formal definitions, four text distillation methods (passage removal, classification, salient feature removal, nullspace projection).
result Moderate distillation optimally balances bias reduction against confounder retention.
Estimates CATE under hidden confounding, accounting for bias and ignorance.
problem Learning CATE from high-dimensional data with unobserved confounders introduces bias and ignorance.
method Parametric interval estimator that accounts for hidden confounding and underrepresented samples.
result Estimator converges to tight bounds on CATE when there may be unobserved confounding.
Proposes bounds on bias from low-dimensional representations in CATE estimation.
problem Bias in CATE estimation due to low-dimensional representations.
method Proposes a refutation framework to estimate bounds on representation-induced confounding bias.
result Demonstrates effectiveness of refutation framework in practice.
Confounding bias, missing data, and selection bias are three common obstacles to valid causal inference in the data sciences. Covariate adjustment is the most pervasive technique for recovering casual effects from confounding bias. In this paper, we introduce a covariate adjustment formulation for controlling confoundi…
Detect hidden confounding in observational data using multiple environments.
problem Detect hidden confounding in observational data.
method Theoretical framework and simulation studies to test for hidden confounding.
result The proposed procedure correctly predicts hidden confounding, especially when bias is large.
CgNN uses network structure as IVs to estimate causal effects in networks.
problem Hidden confounders complicate causal effect estimation in network data.
method CgNN combines GNNs and attention mechanisms to leverage network structure as IVs.
result CgNN effectively mitigates hidden confounder bias and improves causal effect estimation.
DoubleGen addresses bias in generative modeling of counterfactuals.
problem Bias in generative models for counterfactual outcomes.
method Doubly robust framework that modifies generative modeling training objectives to mitigate confounding and misspecification biases.
result Successfully addresses confounding bias even if only one auxiliary model is correct.
CARE improves LLM aggregation by accounting for shared confounders.
problem LLM judges' correlated errors due to shared latent confounders.
method CARE explicitly models judges' scores as true quality and confounders.
result CARE reduces aggregation error by up to 26.8% across various benchmarks.
Algorithm recovers causal graphs in presence of latent confounders and selection bias.
problem Recovering causal graphs in the presence of latent confounders and selection bias.
method Iterative causal discovery (ICD) algorithm that relies on causal Markov and faithfulness assumptions.
result Sound and complete algorithm that recovers the equivalence class of the underlying causal graph.
We prove the main rules of causal calculus (also called do-calculus) for i/o structural causal models (ioSCMs), a generalization of a recently proposed general class of non-/linear structural causal models that allow for cycles, latent confounders and arbitrary probability distributions. We also generalize adjustment c…
This work highlights problems with off-policy estimation in recommender systems due to unobserved confounders.
problem Evaluation of recommender systems under unobserved confounders.
method Policy-based estimators and characterisation of statistical bias due to confounding.
result Naive propensity estimation under confounding leads to severely biased metric estimates.
VTD uses deep embeddings to estimate treatment effects from longitudinal data without unconfoundedness assumption.
problem Challenges in estimating individualized treatment effects from longitudinal observational data due to confounding bias.
method Leverages deep variational embeddings and observed proxies to learn hidden confounders.
result Effective in estimating treatment effects when hidden confounding is the leading bias.
This study optimizes neural networks for doubly robust ATE estimation to balance bias and variance.
problem Balancing bias and variance in doubly robust estimators with neural networks.
method Investigates two neural network architectures and their hyperparameters in the presence of confounders and IVs.
result Optimal hyperparameters for neural networks reduce bias-variance tradeoff for ATE estimators.
Causal approaches to fairness have seen substantial recent interest, both from the machine learning community and from wider parties interested in ethical prediction algorithms. In no small part, this has been due to the fact that causal models allow one to simultaneously leverage data and expert knowledge to remove di…
Estimating the individual treatment effect (ITE) from observational data is essential in medicine. A central challenge in estimating the ITE is handling confounders, which are factors that affect both an intervention and its outcome. Most previous work relies on the unconfoundedness assumption, which posits that all th…
Bounds on treatment effect sensitivity in causal reasoning using Hölder's inequality.
problem Estimating treatment effects in presence of unobserved confounders.
method Using Hölder's inequality, derived bounds on confounding bias based on unmeasured confounding strength.
result Bounds are tight under specific conditions of independence between U and T/Y.
Simulation study evaluates causal ML models under confounding violations.
problem Assessing conditional exchangeability in causal machine learning models.
method Simulation study with varying confounding, sample size, and NCO structures.
result Causal ML models fail to recover true treatment effect heterogeneity under violations of conditional exchangeability.
The paper tackles bandit problems with biased offline data by using causal methods.
problem Improving bandit algorithms with biased offline data that includes confounding and selection biases.
method Formalizes the problem from a causal perspective, categorizes biases, and derives robust bounds for each arm.
result Causal bounds can guide the bandit agent to learn a nearly-optimal decision policy and consistently reduce asymptotic regret.
The paper proposes a method to precisely decompose confounders and estimate treatment effects.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data with confounder identification and balancing.
method Learning decomposed representations to identify and balance confounders and non-confounders.
result The method achieves more precise treatment effect estimation than existing methods.
This paper tackles confounding biases in data augmentation.
problem Mitigating spurious correlations and confounding variables in training data.
method Formal analysis and counterfactual data augmentation.
result Removing confounding biases leads to invariant features and better generalization.
Machine learning confound removal biases results, leading to misleading predictions.
problem Common confound removal methods in machine learning lead to misleading predictions.
method Featurewise removal of confound variance by linear regression before applying ML.
result This common deconfounding approach can leak information, amplifying null or moderate effects.
DOVI improves reinforcement learning with offline data, reducing trial-and-error in critical scenarios.
problem Lack of sample efficiency in deep reinforcement learning for critical applications.
method Proposes DOVI algorithm to incorporate confounded observational data provably efficiently.
result DOVI reduces regret by a multiplicative factor compared to pure online setting, especially when data are informative.
Paper distinguishes causal structures under latent confounding and selection bias.
problem Distinguishing causal relationships when latent variables and selection bias are present.
method Formulated selected-marginalized directed graphs (smDGs) to distinguish causal structures.
result Two causal structures are indistinguishable if they have the same selected-marginalized directed graph.
Confounding biases recommender systems, even when data seems fully observed.
problem Unmeasured features influencing both treatment and outcome in recommender systems.
method Illustrations and simulation studies showing how common practices introduce confounding.
result Standard recommender system practices can introduce confounding, reducing performance.
Study evaluates machine learning for predicting treatment effects in observational studies.
problem Challenges in measuring treatment effects due to confounding bias in observational studies.
method Simulated two scenarios with and without confounding, using linear and non-linear relationships. Used machine learning models (linear regression, lasso regression, random forest) to predict counterfactuals and treatment effects.
result Machine learning models perform well under linearity but poorly under non-linearity, even in the presence of confounding.
New method tackles confounded bandit problems with dual instrumental variables.
problem Confounded contextual bandit problems where noise affects both contexts and rewards.
method Dual instrumental variable regression applied to reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.
result Near-optimal convergence rate and computationally efficient algorithms proved.
New method estimates policy performance under unobserved confounding.
problem Estimating policy performance when decisions depend on unobserved variables.
method Developed worst-case bounds for robust OPE under unobserved confounding.
result Efficient procedure for computing worst-case bounds, proving statistical consistency.
New method for causal effect estimation with hidden confounders.
problem Estimating causal effects in the presence of hidden confounders.
method Singular value decomposition of a conditional expectation operator followed by saddle-point optimization.
result Our method outperforms existing methods on common benchmarks.
New methods for handling confounding in observational studies.
problem Handling confounding variables in observational studies.
method Generalized coarsened procedures for clustering confounding variables, followed by estimation of treatment effects and variance.
result Developed a general asymptotic framework for the average causal effect estimator and variance formulae.
SDD improves DD for estimating treatment effects by adjusting for confounding.
problem Estimating treatment effects in observational studies with confounding.
method Synthesized Difference in Differences (SDD) using RCT data to infer correct slopes.
result SDD achieves state-of-the-art performance across synthetic and real datasets.
Counterfactual evaluation of novel treatment assignment functions (e.g., advertising algorithms and recommender systems) is one of the most crucial causal inference problems for practitioners. Traditionally, randomized controlled trials (A/B tests) are performed to evaluate treatment assignment functions. However, such…
Paper uses Gaussian processes to handle shared latent confounders in causal inference.
problem Bias in causal effect estimates due to shared latent confounders.
method Hierarchical Bayesian model, Gaussian processes with structured latent confounders (GP-SLC), Monte Carlo inference algorithm.
result GP-SLC provides accurate estimates of individual treatment effects with minimal assumptions.
NICE learns a representation to avoid bad controls in causal inference.
problem Avoiding bad controls in causal inference from observational data.
method Uses invariant risk minimization (IRM) to learn a representation of covariates that avoids bad controls.
result NICE outperforms adjusting for all covariates in cases with unknown collider variables and bad controls.
CausalGame benchmarks LLM agents' causal thinking in games.
problem Evaluating causal thinking in AI Scientists with LLMs.
method Interactive games with 14 scenarios incorporating selection bias, measurement error, and hidden confounders.
result None of the 30 LLM agents demonstrated reliable causal thinking, with the best model achieving only 68.0% survival.
GraphTEE estimates treatment effects on graph-structured targets, mitigating bias.
problem Understanding treatment effects on graph-structured targets with observational bias.
method GraphTEE framework focusing on confounding variable sets and new regularization.
result GraphTEE mitigates bias better than previous methods.
Method estimates CATE using RCT data to handle hidden confounders.
problem Estimating CATE in the presence of hidden confounders.
method Pseudo-confounder generator and CATE model alignment.
result Method reduces bias in CATE estimation.
Proposes DSW for unbiased ITE estimation with dynamic confounders.
problem Estimating ITE from dynamic observational data with time-varying confounders.
method Deep Sequential Weighting (DSW) infers hidden confounders using current treatment assignments and historical information.
result DSW generates unbiased and accurate treatment effects.
The treatment effects of medications play a key role in guiding medical prescriptions. They are usually assessed with randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which are expensive. Recently, large-scale electronic health records (EHRs) have become available, opening up new opportunities for more cost-effective assessments. …
Neuroimaging datasets keep growing in size to address increasingly complex medical questions. However, even the largest datasets today alone are too small for training complex machine learning models. A potential solution is to increase sample size by pooling scans from several datasets. In this work, we combine 12,207…
Valid causal inference in observational studies often requires controlling for confounders. However, in practice measurements of confounders may be noisy, and can lead to biased estimates of causal effects. We show that we can reduce the bias caused by measurement noise using a large number of noisy measurements of the…
Over the years, there has been growing interest in using Machine Learning techniques for biomedical data processing. When tackling these tasks, one needs to bear in mind that biomedical data depends on a variety of characteristics, such as demographic aspects (age, gender, etc) or the acquisition technology, which migh…
Sensitivity analysis for individualized effects in OTRs with binary risk factors.
problem Addressing omitted confounding in individualized effects of OTRs.
method Simulation-based sensitivity analysis to simulate unmeasured confounders.
result Benchmarking the strength of omitted confounding for binary risk factors.
Confounding variables are a well known source of nuisance in biomedical studies. They present an even greater challenge when we combine them with black-box machine learning techniques that operate on raw data. This work presents two case studies. In one, we discovered biases arising from systematic errors in the data g…