Study uses PPLs to model and forecast COVID-19 spread and policy interventions.
problem Forecast and control the spread of COVID-19 using policy interventions.
method Compartmental models, probabilistic programming, inference, greedy algorithm.
result Optimal series of policy interventions can control the infected population.
Develops methods to create consistent surrogate models for agent-based simulators.
problem High computational costs and misjudgment of interventions in agent-based models.
method Causal abstractions to learn interventionally consistent surrogate models.
result Surrogates trained for interventional consistency closely mimic the agent-based model's behavior under interventions.
Due to the recent advancements in wearables and sensing technology, health scientists are increasingly developing mobile health (mHealth) interventions. In mHealth interventions, mobile devices are used to deliver treatment to individuals as they go about their daily lives. These treatments are generally designed to im…
This work explains RL policies using causal models, revealing important patterns and failures.
problem Understanding why RL policies succeed or fail in complex, high-dimensional systems.
method Developed a nonlinear Causal Model Reduction framework to learn simplified causal models from RL policy actions and rewards.
result The approach can uncover important behavioral patterns and failure modes in trained RL policies.
We model the default contagion process in a large heterogeneous financial network under the interventions of a regulator (a central bank) with only partial information which is a more realistic setting than most current literature. We provide the analytical results for the asymptotic optimal intervention policies and t…
Our goal is to identify beneficial interventions from observational data. We consider interventions that are narrowly focused (impacting few covariates) and may be tailored to each individual or globally enacted over a population. For applications where harmful intervention is drastically worse than proposing no change…
New method estimates stochastic intervention effects in decision-making domains.
problem Current causal inference methods are limited to deterministic treatment, unable to handle stochastic policies.
method Developed a new stochastic propensity score and stochastic intervention effect estimator (SIE) with a customized genetic algorithm (Ge-SIO).
result Empirical study shows significant performance improvement over state-of-the-art baselines.
Causal models bring many benefits to decision-making systems (or agents) by making them interpretable, sample-efficient, and robust to changes in the input distribution. However, spurious correlations can lead to wrong causal models and predictions. We consider the problem of inferring a causal model of a reinforcement…
New bandit model for healthcare intervention planning.
problem Maximizing patient health with limited monitoring resources.
method Developed Collapsing Bandits model and derived optimal policies.
result 3-order-of-magnitude speedup in algorithm performance.
Algorithm detects causal change points quickly with adaptive interventions.
problem Detecting changes in causal models with interventions.
method Centralization technique, Kullback-Leibler divergence for intervention selection, adaptive intervention policy.
result Theoretical first-order optimality and validation through simulations and real-world studies.
New framework for AI to learn causal models through experience.
problem Lack of guidance for variable choice and interventions in causal models for AI.
method Defines actions as state space transformations, introduces causal variables, and identifies interventions.
result Clarifies the concept of interventions and makes causal representation learning clearer.
We investigate the relationship between market efficiency of rice futures transaction in Osaka and the Japanese government intervention in rice distributions by directly buying and selling rice during the interwar period, from the middle 1910s to 1939, considering the context of "discretion versus rules." We use a time…
Method learns optimal treatment sequences from observational data.
problem Optimal dynamic treatment regimes for public policies and medical interventions.
method Doubly robust classification-based approach via backward induction.
result Achieves optimal convergence rate of n^(-1/2) for welfare regret.
Study counterfactuals in cyclic systems with shifts and scales.
problem Counterfactual inference in cyclic systems with shifts and scales.
method Shift-scale interventions in cyclic SCMs.
result Valid inference in cyclic systems with shifts and scales.
A-ICP selects experiments to learn causal effects efficiently.
problem Learning causal effects from observational data is difficult.
method Active learning framework based on Invariant Causal Prediction.
result Proposes intervention selection policies to reveal direct causes.
Statistical test evaluates if personalizing interventions is cost-effective.
problem Balancing the benefits of personalizing interventions with their potential costs.
method Developed a statistical hypothesis test to assess the performance of personalized interventions.
result The test shows that personalized interventions can outperform standard approaches under certain conditions.
This work shifts focus from prediction to intervention in social systems.
problem The limitations of focusing solely on prediction in automated decision systems.
method Shift from prediction-focused paradigm to intervention-oriented approach.
result A new perspective unifies statistical frameworks and tools for ADS design, implementation, and evaluation.
Optimizes control interventions in real-world networks using deep-learning and network science.
problem Optimizing control over socioeconomic networks subject to constraints.
method Integrates optimization tools from deep-learning with network science.
result Characterizes vulnerability of corporate networks to takeovers.
Overlap between treatment groups is required for non-parametric estimation of causal effects. If a subgroup of subjects always receives the same intervention, we cannot estimate the effect of intervention changes on that subgroup without further assumptions. When overlap does not hold globally, characterizing local reg…
Concept-driven OPE reduces variance in off-policy decision evaluation.
problem High variance in off-policy decision evaluation due to limited sample sizes.
method Integrating human-explainable concepts into OPE to reduce variance.
result Concept-based OPE estimators remain unbiased and reduce variance when concepts are known and predefined.
BFTS uses Bayesian Additive Regression Trees for improved personalized mobile health interventions.
problem Adapting to complex, non-linear user behaviors in personalized mobile health interventions.
method Bayesian Forest Thompson Sampling (BFTS) integrates Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) into the exploration loop of contextual bandits.
result BFTS achieves state-of-the-art regret on tabular benchmarks and improves engagement rates by over 30% in a behavioral intervention study.
New method decomposes local projections to reveal historical drivers of estimates.
problem Uncertainty in interpreting local projections due to black-box nature.
method Decomposes LP estimates into contributions of historical events, interpreting weights as shocks and proximity scores.
result Dominant historical events drive impulse response estimates, revealing underlying mechanisms.
SNPL learns safe policies for multi-objective interventions with high confidence.
problem Designing effective digital interventions balancing multiple objectives with noisy data.
method Leverages algorithmic stability to learn policies with high-confidence guarantees.
result Offers dramatic improvements in safety and policy gains with smaller sample sizes.
New estimator reduces bias-variance tradeoff in Markovian interference experiments.
problem Estimating impact of interventions in systems with limited resources.
method Differences-In-Q (DQ) estimator for on-policy policy evaluation.
result DQ estimator has exponentially smaller variance than off-policy methods.
The paper targets optimal interventions for long-term outcomes using imputed data and policy learning.
problem Maximizing long-term outcomes observed only in the future.
method Imputing missing long-term outcomes and using a doubly-robust approach for policy evaluation and optimization.
result The approach outperforms simple short-term proxies and achieves significant revenue impact over three years.
Emerging economies use countercyclical policies to manage crises and dominant currencies.
problem Managing economic crises and fluctuations in dominant currencies like USD and EUR.
method Theoretical analysis, case studies, econometric modeling.
result Emerging economies can stabilize growth with countercyclical monetary policies.
We present new methods to estimate causal effects retrospectively from micro data with the assistance of a machine learning ensemble. This approach overcomes two important limitations in conventional methods like regression modeling or matching: (i) ambiguity about the pertinent retrospective counterfactuals and (ii) p…
New algorithm optimizes interventions under network interference, scaling to large networks.
problem Optimal policy learning under network interference where one individual's treatment affects others.
method Developed a scalable Thompson sampling algorithm for dynamic networks.
result Proved a Bayesian regret bound that is sublinear in network size and rounds.
Most approaches in algorithmic fairness constrain machine learning methods so the resulting predictions satisfy one of several intuitive notions of fairness. While this may help private companies comply with non-discrimination laws or avoid negative publicity, we believe it is often too little, too late. By the time th…
Adaptive PCR improves panel data analysis with uniform guarantees.
problem Adaptive data collection in panel data settings.
method Adapting PCR to online settings using martingale concentration.
result Time-uniform guarantees for adaptive PCR in panel data.
Simulation framework assesses ROI of chronic disease adherence and policy timing.
problem Uncertainty in ROI of adherence-enhancing interventions under heterogeneous patient behavior and socioeconomic variation.
method Simulation-based framework integrating disease progression, time-varying adherence, and policy timing.
result Early and adaptive interventions yield highest ROI, exceeding 20% under certain conditions.
Reduces variance in noisy social outcomes to improve policy evaluation and optimization.
problem Improving access to opportunity through personalized treatment decisions.
method Data-driven dimensionality-reduction using reduced rank regression to denoise multiple outcomes.
result Improves estimation error in policy evaluation and optimization, including on real-world data.
Personalized interventions in social services, education, and healthcare leverage individual-level causal effect predictions in order to give the best treatment to each individual or to prioritize program interventions for the individuals most likely to benefit. While the sensitivity of these domains compels us to eval…
Develops algorithm to reduce real-world inequality.
problem Reduces inequality in real-world disparities.
method Impact remediation framework using social science insights and constrained optimization.
result Optimal intervention policies discovered to improve equity.
Paper uses RL to optimize ICU load during COVID-19.
problem Optimizing ICU load during a pandemic.
method Combines epidemic model, Bayesian inference, and RL for adaptive intervention levels.
result RL policies reduce ICU burden compared to historical interventions.
Mobile apps and machine learning improve malaria prevention and treatment.
problem High malaria cases and deaths in low-income countries.
method Adaptive interventions using mobile health apps and machine learning.
result Increased malaria testing, adherence, and provider skills.
Estimating individual treatment effects from data of randomized experiments is a critical task in causal inference. The Stable Unit Treatment Value Assumption (SUTVA) is usually made in causal inference. However, interference can introduce bias when the assigned treatment on one unit affects the potential outcomes of t…
Proposes pT-Learning for optimal dynamic treatment regimes in mHealth.
problem Challenges in learning optimal dynamic treatment regimes with large intervention options and infinite time horizon.
method Proximal Temporal consistency Learning (pT-Learning) framework for adaptively adjusting between deterministic and stochastic policies.
result Minimax estimator avoids double sampling issue and can incorporate off-policy data.
Bayesian networks learn sub-population differences from data.
problem Inference from a single network structure can be misleading when data populations are heterogeneous.
method A mixture of Bayesian networks where component probabilities depend on individual characteristics.
result Identifies both network structures and demographic predictors of sub-population membership.
GAMBITTS uses GenAI for adaptive interventions, improving decision-making.
problem Adaptive interventions with GenAI-generated content.
method Generator-mediated bandit-Thompson sampling (GAMBITTS).
result GAMBITTS outperforms standard bandit methods in mobile health interventions.
Agent-based model compares different COVID-19 testing policies and their effectiveness.
problem Understanding how different testing policies reveal the true number of infected cases.
method Developed an agent-based simulation framework in Python to model various testing policies and interventions.
result Contact Tracing consistently captures more positive cases than Random Symptomatic Testing, and LBT performs similarly.
This paper proposes a method for estimating the effect of a policy intervention on an outcome over time. We train recurrent neural networks (RNNs) on the history of control unit outcomes to learn a useful representation for predicting future outcomes. The learned representation of control units is then applied to the t…
RoME optimizes mobile health interventions by modeling user and time-specific effects.
problem Challenges in optimizing mobile health interventions due to participant heterogeneity, nonstationarity, and nonlinear relationships.
method RoME uses a Robust Mixed-Effects contextual bandit algorithm with random effects, network cohesion penalties, and debiased machine learning.
result RoME achieves robust regret bounds even with complex baseline rewards, demonstrating superior performance in simulations and studies.
This study evaluates prewar Japanese financial market efficiency using time-varying models.
problem Determining when prewar Japanese financial market lost its price formation function.
method Time-varying parameter model, generalized least squares-based time-varying vector autoregressive model.
result The prewar Japanese financial market lost its price formation function in 1932.
Develops a method to efficiently learn causal DAGs using directed clique trees.
problem Efficiently learning causal DAGs in the presence of large cliques.
method Decomposes DAGs into independently orientable components using directed clique trees and designs a two-phase intervention algorithm.
result Proves that the number of single-node interventions necessary to orient any DAG in an EC is at least the sum of half the size of the largest cliques in each chain component of the essential graph.
Study uses exchangeable GPs for staggered-adoption policy evaluation in panel data.
problem Evaluating the impact of staggered treatments in panel data settings.
method Exchangeable multi-task Gaussian processes (GPs) with flexible kernels.
result Flexible tool for policy evaluation in panel data settings.
Increasing technological sophistication and widespread use of smartphones and wearable devices provide opportunities for innovative and highly personalized health interventions. A Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) uses real-time data collection and communication capabilities of modern mobile devices to deliver…
Extends Thompson sampling for RL with fewer episodes.
problem Limited episodes in RL settings.
method Batch Bayesian optimization over episodes to learn action bias terms.
result Significantly outperforms standard Thompson sampling.