This study optimizes covariate density and propensity score for efficient ATE estimation.
problem Efficiently estimating average treatment effects (ATEs) with minimal variance.
method Adaptive experiment optimizing both covariate density and propensity score.
result Proposed method minimizes the semiparametric efficiency bound for ATE estimation.
Improves robustness of propensity score estimators in challenging settings.
problem Limited overlap, small sample sizes, or unbalanced data.
method Extends calibration techniques for propensity score models, focusing on sample-splitting schemes.
result Calibration reduces variance and bias in inverse probability weighting and double/debiased machine learning frameworks.
The paper resolves the paradox of using unlabeled data for treatment effect estimation.
problem Using unlabeled data to estimate propensity scores for treatment effect estimation.
method Proposes a simple procedure to reconcile the use of estimated propensity scores with the advice to use true propensity scores.
result Direct regression may be preferable to inverse-propensity weighting in many circumstances.
Post-calibration improves the accuracy of causal effect estimation.
problem Improperly calibrated propensity scores lead to inaccurate causal effect estimation.
method Performed a simulation study to assess the impact of post-calibration on causal effect estimation.
result Post-calibration reduces the error in estimating the average treatment effect, especially for expressive uncalibrated statistical estimators.
New method reduces confidence interval sizes for causal inference.
problem Inaccurate propensity scores and extreme scores cause large confidence intervals.
method Data-dependent Coarse IPW (CIPW) estimators.
result Robust CIPW estimators reduce confidence interval sizes to ε+1/√n.
Observational cohort studies with oversampled exposed subjects are typically implemented to understand the causal effect of a rare exposure. Because the distribution of exposed subjects in the sample differs from the source population, estimation of a propensity score function (i.e., probability of exposure given basel…
The paper investigates how calibrating propensity scores improves DML estimates of average treatment effects.
problem Improving the accuracy of DML estimates in finite samples.
method Propensity score calibration within the Double/debiased machine learning framework.
result Calibrating propensity scores reduces the root mean squared error of DML estimates of average treatment effects in finite samples.
Proposes stabilized weights for causal inference using isotonic calibration.
problem Stability and bias issues in inverse propensity weighting.
method Post-hoc isotonic calibration of inverse propensity weights.
result Improves performance of doubly robust estimators of average treatment effect.
In this paper, we propose a robust method to estimate the average treatment effects in observational studies when the number of potential confounders is possibly much greater than the sample size. We first use a class of penalized M-estimators for the propensity score and outcome models. We then calibrate the initial e…
Proposes methods to estimate posterior probability and propensity score functions without assuming constant propensity score.
problem Learning from biased positive-unlabeled data.
method Parametric approach to joint estimation of posterior probability and propensity score functions using maximum likelihood and alternating maximization.
result Proposed methods are comparable or better than existing methods based on Expectation-Maximisation scheme.
Proposes a method to stabilize treatment effect estimation with unbalanced data.
problem Unbalanced treatment assignment leading to unstable propensity score estimations.
method Undersamples data for propensity score modeling and calibrates scores to match original distribution.
result The estimator retains asymptotic properties of the DML estimator and improves finite sample performance.
Ablation studies show BCF model's propensity score is not essential for treatment effect estimation.
problem Understanding the necessity of propensity score in nonparametric treatment effect estimation.
method Partial ablation studies of Bayesian Causal Forest (BCF) model.
result Excluding estimated propensity score does not affect treatment effect estimation or uncertainty quantification.
Proposes a novel neural network method to estimate average treatment effect.
problem Bias in estimating average treatment effect due to confounding and instrumental variables.
method Self-balancing neural network (Sbnet) that estimates pseudo propensity scores and average treatment effect in one step.
result Proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in simulations and real-world datasets.
New method improves causal effect estimation by addressing imbalance in training data.
problem Imbalance between treatment and control groups in training data.
method Combines distributionally robust optimization and weight regularization.
result Consistent improvements over existing methods in experiments.
FIDDLE uses deep learning to estimate ATE from complex data.
problem Estimating ATE from high-dimensional, correlated covariates with sparse nonlinear effects.
method Factor-augmented deep learning for propensity and outcome models.
result FIDDLE consistently estimates ATE under model misspecification and is semiparametrically efficient.
The paper develops methods to handle missing data using regularized M-estimation in reproducing kernel Hilbert space.
problem Handling missing data in statistical analysis.
method Kernel ridge regression for imputation and maximum entropy method for propensity score estimation.
result The proposed methods achieve statistical consistency and asymptotic equivalence.
In this paper, we propose deep learning techniques for econometrics, specifically for causal inference and for estimating individual as well as average treatment effects. The contribution of this paper is twofold: 1. For generalized neighbor matching to estimate individual and average treatment effects, we analyze the …
Novel LSE estimator improves off-policy learning and evaluation.
problem High variance and poor performance with low-quality propensity scores and heavy-tailed reward distributions.
method Introduces a novel estimator based on the log-sum-exponential (LSE) operator.
result Achieves convergence rate of O(n−ε/(1+ε)) for regret bounds. Neural score matching improves high-dimensional causal inference by using neural networks for balancing scores.
problem Impracticality of traditional matching methods in high-dimensional datasets due to the curse of dimensionality.
method Develops neural networks to create non-trivial, multivariate balancing scores for high-dimensional causal inference.
result Neural score matching outperforms other methods in treatment effect estimation and reducing imbalance on high-dimensional datasets.
Quantum neural networks improve causal inference in biomedical studies, especially for small samples.
problem Addressing selection bias in comparing surgical techniques using observational data.
method Developed QNN-based propensity score models focusing on four key covariates (Age, Sex, Stage, BMI). Employed a linear ZFeatureMap for data encoding, SummedPaulis for predictions, and CMA-ES for optimization. Integrated noise modeling to enhance predictive stability.
result QNNs, particularly with noise-aware strategies, outperformed classical models in small samples, achieving AUC up to 0.750 for n=100.
We study offline recommender learning from explicit rating feedback in the presence of selection bias. A current promising solution for the bias is the inverse propensity score (IPS) estimation. However, the performance of existing propensity-based methods can suffer significantly from the propensity estimation bias. I…
Optimizes insurance pricing by accounting for policyholders' price sensitivity.
problem Traditional insurance pricing does not consider policyholders' price sensitivity.
method Formulates insurance pricing as a decision-making problem and uses off-policy evaluation and stochastic control.
result Neural networks outperform existing techniques for policy optimization.
In most real-world recommender systems, the observed rating data are subject to selection bias, and the data are thus missing-not-at-random. Developing a method to facilitate the learning of a recommender with biased feedback is one of the most challenging problems, as it is widely known that naive approaches under sel…
Study introduces a new framework for policy learning without positivity assumption.
problem Learning optimal treatment assignment policies from observational data with constraints.
method Incremental propensity score policies and semiparametric efficiency theory.
result Validated framework's performance through numerical experiments.
In epidemiology, identifying the effect of exposure variables in relation to a time-to-event outcome is a classical research area of practical importance. Incorporating propensity score in the Cox regression model, as a measure to control for confounding, has certain advantages when outcome is rare. However, in situati…
Proposes RCL method to improve ATE estimation from observational data.
problem Error-compounding issue and extreme estimates in DML estimators.
method Robust Causal Learning (RCL) method to offset DML deficiencies.
result RCL estimators are more stable and perform better than DML estimators.
Pessimistic estimator improves multi-objective policy optimization.
problem Optimizing multi-objective policies from existing data.
method Pessimistic estimator based on inverse propensity scores (IPS).
result Pessimistic estimator outperforms naive IPS estimator in theory and experiments.
Unified causal inference framework using distribution adaptation.
problem Estimating Average Treatment Effects (ATE) under uncertainty in propensity scores.
method Reframed as domain adaptation problem, using machine learning techniques.
result Joint Robust Estimator (JRE) achieves up to 15% reduction in MSE.
Study designs for estimating treatment effects in adaptive experiments.
problem Estimating treatment effects under adaptive treatment assignment.
method Propose and analyze IPW and AIPW estimators, establish CLTs under design stability.
result Central limit theorems for IPW and AIPW estimators under design stability.
New neural network model improves treatment effect estimation.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data.
method Proposes a neural network model leveraging covariates and neighboring instances.
result Reports better treatment effect estimation performance.
Proposes a method to improve learning when training data is not representative.
problem Improving supervised learning when training data is not representative (covariate shift).
method Conditioning on propensity scores to balance covariates within strata.
result Significantly improved target prediction and AUC (0.958) on supernovae classification challenge.
New method offsets DML's error-compounding issue and provides more stable causal parameter estimates.
problem Estimating ATE from observational data with robustness and stability.
method Robust Causal Learning (RCL) method to offset DML's deficiencies.
result RCL estimators are more stable and perform better than DML and traditional estimators.
In biostatistics, propensity score is a common approach to analyze the imbalance of covariate and process confounding covariates to eliminate differences between groups. While there are an abundant amount of methods to compute propensity score, a common issue of them is the corrupted labels in the dataset. For example,…
Propensity score matching improves fairness in machine learning models.
problem Bias in training data affects fairness metrics in machine learning models.
method Propensity score matching to evaluate and mitigate bias in test data.
result FairMatch significantly reduces bias in test data without sacrificing predictive performance.
Proposes a new method to handle data heterogeneity in causal inference.
problem Challenges of collaborating between different data centers due to heterogeneity.
method Collaborative inverse propensity score weighting estimator to adjust for distribution shift.
result Significant improvements over traditional meta-analysis methods when dealing with increased heterogeneity.
Data mining and machine learning techniques such as classification and regression trees (CART) represent a promising alternative to conventional logistic regression for propensity score estimation. Whereas incomplete data preclude the fitting of a logistic regression on all subjects, CART is appealing in part because s…
Study improves unbiased recommender learning by addressing missing-reward bias.
problem Data bias caused by missing-reward observations in recommender systems.
method Proposes a novel estimator using propensity scores to mitigate both position and reward bias.
result The proposed estimator outperforms other methods, even with increased reward observation bias.
The paper develops a method for self-normalized inference in adaptive experiments.
problem Adaptive experiments require a fixed horizon for ATE estimation, but propensities can change.
method The method uses self-normalized martingale limit theory to estimate ATE.
result The Studentized statistic is asymptotically N(0,1) at the prespecified horizon.
New method for PU learning with instance-dependent propensity scores.
problem Learning from positive and unlabeled data with instance-dependent labeling.
method Empirical risk minimization of joint risk function, alternating optimization of posterior probability and propensity score.
result The method achieves comparable or better performance than state-of-the-art methods.
The positivity assumption, or the experimental treatment assignment (ETA) assumption, is important for identifiability in causal inference. Even if the positivity assumption holds, practical violations of this assumption may jeopardize the finite sample performance of the causal estimator. One of the consequences of pr…
New framework for evaluating ad auctions using stochastic modeling.
problem Challenges in evaluating deterministic ad auctions.
method Repurposed bid landscape model to approximate propensity scores, enabling robust OPE estimators.
result Remarkable alignment with online A/B test results, achieving 92% MDA in CTR prediction.
Paper presents a method to align unpaired samples across different modalities.
problem Challenges in collecting paired samples for multimodal representation learning.
method Uses propensity score alignment based on Rubin's framework to estimate a common space for unpaired samples.
result Optimal transport matching significantly improves alignment in real-world data.
Paper proposes a new method for estimating treatment effects using interpretable deep learning models.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data with interpretability.
method Proposes a novel objective function using energy distance balancing score and neural additive models for improved interpretability.
result Demonstrates superior performance over state-of-the-art methods in semi-synthetic experiments.
The paper addresses statistical inference for online decision-making in a contextual bandit setting.
problem Understanding the performance of reward models in online decision-making with contextual information.
method The paper uses the contextual bandit framework with a linear reward model and the ε-greedy policy to address the exploration-exploitation dilemma. It employs the martingale central limit theorem and inverse propensity score weighting to establish asymptotic normality of parameter estimators. result The online ordinary least squares estimator and the online weighted least squares estimator are asymptotically normal, providing insights into the performance of the reward model.
Proposes a new model for estimating individual treatment effects.
problem Estimating individual treatment effects from observational data is challenging.
method Integrates diffusion modeling and conformal inference with propensity score and covariate approximation.
result Establishes rigorous theoretical guarantees and demonstrates competitive performance.
Many estimators of the average effect of a treatment on an outcome require estimation of the propensity score, the outcome regression, or both. It is often beneficial to utilize flexible techniques such as semiparametric regression or machine learning to estimate these quantities. However, optimal estimation of these r…
Proposes MDR estimator for unbiased OPE with large action spaces.
problem Severe bias and variance tradeoffs in OPE with large action spaces.
method Marginalized Doubly Robust (MDR) estimator, reducing variance and bias.
result MDR estimator is unbiased under weaker assumptions than MIPS.
Q-Learner estimates ratio-based treatment effects without imposing parametric structures.
problem Estimating treatment effects as ratios in non-linear settings.
method Decomposes ratio-CATE into two classification tasks, using doubly robust augmentations.
result Q-Learner outperforms other methods in low-conversion and observational data settings.