Paper identifies unobserved variables from observable data.
problem Missing variables in empirical studies.
method Function mapping from observables to unobservables based on joint distribution.
result Uniqueness of latent values in each observation.
New method removes hidden confounders for unbiased treatment effect estimation.
problem Bias in treatment effect estimation due to unobserved confounders.
method Proposes a new debiased estimation approach via SVD to handle heterogeneous confounding.
result Established rate of convergence for the estimator under different noise conditions.
CDVAE estimates treatment effects over time by accounting for unobserved variables.
problem Estimating treatment effects over time in the presence of unobserved confounders.
method Causal Dynamic Variational Autoencoder (CDVAE) that addresses unconfoundedness and unobserved heterogeneity.
result CDVAE outperforms existing methods in estimating Conditional Average Treatment Effects (CATEs).
This work restricts hidden cardinality in causal models to infer causal relations.
problem Causal relations between variables with a common unobserved cause cannot be directly inferred.
method Derive inequality constraints from d-separation in causal models with known cardinalities of unobserved variables.
result Inference of causal relations is possible with additional assumptions about cardinalities.
New method scores DAGs by identifying unobserved confounding.
problem Unobserved confounding complicates causal discovery.
method Score-based causal discovery algorithm that accounts for unobserved confounding.
result Sparse linear Gaussian DAGs can be recovered from observed data.
The edge structure of the graph defining an undirected graphical model describes precisely the structure of dependence between the variables in the graph. In many applications, the dependence structure is unknown and it is desirable to learn it from data, often because it is a preliminary step to be able to ascertain c…
Study tackles causal structure learning in linear models with unobserved variables and measurement error.
problem Challenges of unobserved common causes and measurement error in causal structure learning.
method Introduces LV-SEM-ME model with four types of variables and characterizes identifiability under separability condition.
result Establishes form of identification robustness for target effect in broader LV-SEM-ME model.
GEEN uses deep learning to estimate unobserved variables from observed data.
problem Estimating unobserved variables in latent variable models.
method GEEN uses deep learning with Kullback-Leibler distance to map observed measurements to latent variable realizations.
result GEEN provides a method to identify and estimate latent variables in a class of models.
Granger causality analysis, as one of the most popular time series causality methods, has been widely used in the economics, neuroscience. However, unobserved confounders is a fundamental problem in the observational studies, which is still not solved for the non-linear Granger causality. The application works often de…
New method estimates treatment effects over time with unobserved confounders.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data with unobserved confounders.
method Sequential Deconfounder using Gaussian process latent variable model.
result Unbiased estimates of individualized treatment responses over time.
Kernel methods identify treatment effects with unobserved confounding using negative controls.
problem Learning causal relationships with unmeasured confounding.
method Kernel ridge regression algorithms for nonparametric treatment effects.
result Uniform consistency and finite sample rates of convergence proved.
New framework for estimating treatment effects in observational studies.
problem Estimating average treatment effects in the presence of unobserved confounders.
method Distributionally robust optimization, sensitivity models.
result Sharp bounds on average treatment effects under distributional assumptions.
Paper proposes methods to discover causal models with unobserved variables.
problem Discovering causal relationships in data with unobserved variables.
method Two methods leveraging prior knowledge for causal discovery in CAM-UV models.
result Accuracy of causal discovery improves with more prior knowledge.
New method identifies causal effects with categorical unobserved confounders.
problem Estimating causal effects in the presence of unobserved confounders.
method Mixture learning and tensor decomposition for consistent estimation.
result Causal effects are identifiable with categorical unobserved confounders under suitable conditions.
Single proxy variable helps estimate causal effects from confounders.
problem Estimating causal effects from treatment to outcome when unobserved confounders are present.
method Assumes a single, potentially multi-dimensional proxy variable of the unobserved confounder and a known mechanism generating the proxy from the confounder. Proves causal effects are identifiable under completeness assumption.
result Causal effects are identifiable under SPICE assumption.
CLOUD method detects causal relationships in various data types without latent variable assumptions.
problem Detecting causal relationships in the presence of unobserved common causes.
method CLOUD method using Normalized Maximum Likelihood (NML) Code for various data types (discrete, mixed, continuous).
result CLOUD method is more effective than existing methods in inferring causal relationships.
ContiVAE estimates individual dose-response curves from unobserved confounders using observational data.
problem Estimating causal effects of continuous treatments considering unobserved confounders.
method Variational auto-encoder with a Tilted Gaussian prior distribution modeling hidden confounders as latent variables.
result ContiVAE outperforms existing methods by up to 62% in predicting individual dose-response curves.
New method tackles OOD robustness with a single additional variable.
problem Out-of-distribution generalization with unobserved confounders.
method Identifiability assumptions using a single additional variable.
result Superior empirical performance on benchmark tasks.
This paper describes Simpson's paradox, and explains its serious implications for randomised control trials. In particular, we show that for any number of variables we can simulate the result of a controlled trial which uniformly points to one conclusion (such as 'drug is effective') for every possible combination of t…
Causal discovery predicts unobserved joint statistics from observed data.
problem Inferring properties of unobserved joint distributions from observed data.
method Infer causal models from observed data to predict statistical properties of unobserved sets.
result Sparse causal graphs can be more useful than dense ones in predicting unobserved joint distributions.
Intact-VAE estimates treatment effects with latent confounders.
problem Estimating treatment effects under unobserved confounding.
method Intact-VAE, a VAE variant, models latent confounders to identify treatment effects.
result Intact-VAE is a consistent estimator of treatment effects under certain settings.
The paper defines conditions for learning causal graphs from data with unobserved variables.
problem Learning causal graphs from data with unobserved variables.
method Formalizes constraint-based structure learning algorithms under conditions and assumptions.
result Natural family of algorithms output Markov equivalent graphs to the causal graph under faithfulness assumption.
New method identifies causal relationships in presence of hidden variables.
problem Identifying causal relationships when hidden variables exist.
method Established sufficient conditions and introduced a search algorithm.
result Proved soundness and completeness of the search algorithm.
A new method detects unknown classes and adapts to extra dimensions in high-dimensional classification.
problem Handling unknown classes and extra variables in high-dimensional classification.
method Dimension-Adaptive Mixture Discriminant Analysis (D-AMDA) using an EM algorithm for model estimation.
result The method can adapt to unknown classes and extra dimensions in high-dimensional data.
New method detects causal relationships from noisy measurements.
problem Discover causal relationships from noisy, imperfect measurements.
method Transformed Independent Noise (TIN) condition and ordered group decomposition.
result Identifies causal graph structure without over-complete ICA.
We describe a method that infers whether statistical dependences between two observed variables X and Y are due to a "direct" causal link or only due to a connecting causal path that contains an unobserved variable of low complexity, e.g., a binary variable. This problem is motivated by statistical genetics. Given a ge…
New design detects confounders from treatment intent in ICU data.
problem Unobserved confounding in observational ICU data.
method Querying human experts to identify unobserved confounders.
result Demonstrates feasibility of detecting confounders from EHRs.
Unified framework for causal inference with reliable uncertainty quantification.
problem Causal inference under unobserved confounding with unreliable uncertainty quantification.
method Deconditional Gaussian Process (DGP) framework for uncertainty-aware causal learning.
result Strong predictive performance and informative uncertainty quantification.
Modeling hidden neurons in SNNs using mesoscopic approximations.
problem Underconstrained problem of modeling unobserved neurons in SNNs.
method Coarse-graining and mean-field approximations to derive neuLVM.
result neuLVM can efficiently model large SNNs and recover connectivity parameters.
We tackle causal discovery in linear systems with measurement error and unobserved causes.
problem Causal discovery in linear systems with measurement error and unobserved causes.
method Characterization of identifiability based on the mixing matrix, proposing causal structure learning methods.
result The structure of causal models can be identified under certain faithfulness assumptions.
Paper proves causal direction can be inferred from data with limited randomness.
problem Inferring causal direction from observational data with limited randomness.
method Entropy measurement and structural causal models.
result Causal direction is identifiable for most causal models with limited entropy.
Unobserved confounding is a central barrier to drawing causal inferences from observational data. Several authors have recently proposed that this barrier can be overcome in the case where one attempts to infer the effects of several variables simultaneously. In this paper, we present two simple, analytical counterexam…
Predictive models can fail to generalize from training to deployment environments because of dataset shift, posing a threat to model reliability and the safety of downstream decisions made in practice. Instead of using samples from the target distribution to reactively correct dataset shift, we use graphical knowledge …
Combines IV and observational data to estimate CATEs with low compliance and unobserved confounding.
problem Estimating CATEs in personalized medicine and analytics with observational data and weak IVs.
method Two-stage framework: first learns biased CATEs from observational data, then corrects using IV data.
result Effective in estimating CATEs with low compliance and unobserved confounding.
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.
Paper shows identifiability of causal models with unobserved variables.
problem Identify latent variables in causal models with unobserved variables.
method Developed an autoencoding variational Bayes algorithm.
result Identifiability achieved with generalized faithfulness assumptions.
New bounds assess policy evaluation under unobserved confounders, showing model-based methods are more effective.
problem Policy evaluation under unobserved confounders in uncertain causal environments.
method Developed worst-case bounds for sensitivity to unobserved confounders, demonstrating model-based methods are more effective.
result Model-based approaches with robust MDPs provide sharper lower bounds for policy evaluation.
Estimates long-term effects from short-term experiments and observational data with unobserved confounders.
problem Estimating long-term causal effects from short-term experiments and long-term observational data with unobserved confounding.
method Combining regression residuals with short-term experimental outcomes to create an instrumental variable for estimating long-term causal effects.
result The estimator is unbiased and its variance is analytically studied.
Study tackles OPE in confounded settings, estimating policy value from proxies.
problem Difficulty in OPE due to unobserved confounders in infinite-horizon RL.
method Two-stage approach: estimating stationary distribution ratios and combining optimal balancing.
result Policy value can be identified from off-policy data with proxies and latent variable model.
Proposes a method to create robust linear models with noisy proxies of unobserved variables.
problem Learning robust linear models to handle interventions on unobserved variables with noisy proxies.
method Regularization term that balances in-distribution performance and robustness to interventions.
result Single proxy can create prediction optimal estimators under interventions of bounded strength.
New method selects features for sequential decision making.
problem Dynamic feature selection for instance-wise decisions.
method Latent variable model trained in a supervised manner; reasoning across stochastic latent space.
result Outperforms existing methods on various datasets.
Generative ODE model learns unknown variables in medical systems.
problem Estimating unknown variables in complex medical systems.
method Variational autoencoder incorporating known ODE functions.
result Modeling known-unknowns improves system parameter discovery and extrapolation.
Proxy methods adapt to distribution shifts without explicitly modeling latent confounders.
problem Adapting to distribution shifts under latent variable confounding.
method Proximal causal learning, two-stage kernel estimation.
result Proxy methods outperform other methods in adapting to complex distribution shifts.
Networks are a unifying framework for modeling complex systems and network inference problems are frequently encountered in many fields. Here, I develop and apply a generative approach to network inference (RCweb) for the case when the network is sparse and the latent (not observed) variables affect the observed ones. …
Motivated by modern applications in which one constructs graphical models based on a very large number of features, this paper introduces a new class of cluster-based graphical models, in which variable clustering is applied as an initial step for reducing the dimension of the feature space. We employ model assisted cl…
Study uses a bivariate model to price crude oil futures.
problem Pricing crude oil futures using latent factors and state-space models.
method Modelled short and long term factors as OU processes, estimated using Kalman Filter and maximised Gaussian likelihood.
result Successfully estimated model parameters and factors from WTI Crude Oil NYMEX futures data.
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.
Off-policy evaluation of sequential decision policies from observational data is necessary in applications of batch reinforcement learning such as education and healthcare. In such settings, however, unobserved variables confound observed actions, rendering exact evaluation of new policies impossible, i.e., unidentifia…