Consistent estimator derived for confounding strength in observational data.
problem Estimating confounding strength in observational data is challenging due to unobserved confounders.
method Derived and adapted a consistent estimator using tools from random matrix theory.
result The original estimator is not consistent, but an adapted one is.
A new method uses randomized trials to estimate the strength of unobserved confounding.
problem Unobserved confounding compromises causal conclusions from non-randomized studies.
method Designs a statistical test to detect unobserved confounding strength and estimates a lower bound.
result Estimates an asymptotically valid lower bound on unobserved confounding strength.
Study interpolating estimators for causal learning from observational data.
problem Learning causal models from observational data in complex model classes.
method Investigate min-norm interpolators and ridge-regularized regressors in a linearly confounded model.
result Interpolators cannot be optimal for causal learning under the principle of independent causal mechanisms, requiring stronger regularization.
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.
Proposes a method to assess unobserved confounding effects in causal inference.
problem Assessing unobserved confounding in causal inference studies.
method Copula-based normalizing flows with sensitivity parameter ρ. result Estimates average causal effect (ACE) as a function of unobserved confounding strength.
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.
Proposes ρ-GNF for sensitivity analysis of unobserved confounding.
problem Sensitivity analysis of unobserved confounding in observational studies.
method Copulas and normalizing flows to estimate average causal effect (ACE) as a function of unobserved confounding strength.
result Develops ρcurve to provide bounds for ACE and identify confounding strength required to nullify ACE. 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.
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.
CausalMix generates synthetic data with causal controls for mixed-type tables.
problem Synthetic data for causal inference with mixed-type and multimodal tabular data.
method CausalMix combines Gaussian latent priors with data-type-specific decoders for control over overlap, confounding, and treatment effect heterogeneity.
result CausalMix achieves state-of-the-art distributional metrics and stable causal control.
Paper compares two methods for inferring network structures in presence of latent confounders.
problem Inferring network structures in presence of latent confounders.
method Gaussian graphical models with latent variables (LVGGM) and PCA-based removal of confounding (PCA+GGM).
result Proposes a new method combining strengths of LVGGM and PCA+GGM, proving consistency and convergence rate.
Paper tackles unobserved confounding in human-AI collaborations.
problem Unobserved confounding undermines human-AI collaboration effectiveness.
method Combines sensitivity analysis from causal inference with AI-driven statistical modeling.
result Enhances robustness and reliability of collaborative outcomes.
DECAT framework evaluates multimodal models for shared biology, detecting confounders and false positives.
problem Determining if multimodal models learn shared biology or just confounders.
method DECAT framework classifies multimodal representations into four diagnostic scenarios using null-referenced metrics.
result DECAT detects confounders and false positives in multimodal models, improving with larger cohorts and stronger representations.
Unified framework for causal inference under sample selection.
problem Causal inference under sample selection with treatment and outcome non-randomness.
method ForestRiesz estimator, Riesz representation framework.
result ForestRiesz estimator yields more stable treatment effect estimates than conventional double machine learning approaches.
I argue that regularizing terms in standard regression methods not only help against overfitting finite data, but sometimes also yield better causal models in the infinite sample regime. I first consider a multi-dimensional variable linearly influencing a target variable with some multi-dimensional unobserved common ca…
New method combines strengths of two PCL approaches without density ratio estimation.
problem Estimating causal functions in Proxy Causal Learning with unobserved confounders and proxies.
method Kernel-based doubly robust estimators combining treatment and outcome bridges, density ratio-free.
result Outperforms existing methods on PCL benchmarks, including a prior doubly robust method.
The paper shows how to audit fairness in decisions with hidden risk factors.
problem Estimating fairness in decisions influenced by hidden, unobservable risk factors.
method Derives unbiased estimates of risk using historical data and audits existing decision-making systems.
result One can compute meaningful bounds on treatment rates for high-risk individuals, even with hidden confounders.
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.
Study compares causal discovery methods for cyclic models with hidden confounders.
problem Detect causal directions in cyclic systems with hidden confounders.
method Comprehensive comparison of four causal discovery techniques.
result Performance varies across different experimental setups and dataset sizes.
New method combines experimental and observational data for causal inference.
problem Combining internal validity of experiments and larger sample sizes of observations.
method Empirical risk minimization (ERM) framework with cross-validation.
result Efficacy and reliability demonstrated on real and synthetic data.
Progress in probabilistic generative models has accelerated, developing richer models with neural architectures, implicit densities, and with scalable algorithms for their Bayesian inference. However, there has been limited progress in models that capture causal relationships, for example, how individual genetic factor…
New method improves treatment effect estimation using autoencoders and causal bridge.
problem Inferring causal effects with unobserved confounders.
method Coupling autoencoder with causal bridge to estimate treatment effects.
result Improves accuracy of treatment effect estimates.
DeepBlip estimates treatment effects over time using neural networks.
problem Estimating treatment effects over time with interpretable blip effects.
method DeepBlip uses a novel double optimization trick to enable simultaneous learning of blip functions with sequential neural networks.
result DeepBlip achieves state-of-the-art performance across various clinical datasets.
A new method detects interactions in machine learning models.
problem Interpreting non-linear and interaction effects in machine learning models.
method Regional effect plots with implicit interaction detection.
result The method quantifies and interprets feature effects reliably, less confounded by interactions.
Temporal Causal Prior-Data Fitted Networks (TCPFN) for industrial time series causal discovery
problem Estimating causal effects in industrial time series
method Temporal Causal Prior-Data Fitted Networks
result Zero-shot causal discovery with explicit reliability signals
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.
Research shows continual learning challenges in confounded datasets.
problem Challenges in mitigating confounders in continual learning settings.
method Formal description of continual confounders, construction of ConCon dataset.
result Standard continual learning methods fail to ignore confounders.
Statistical learning on biological data can be challenging due to confounding variables in sample collection and processing. Confounders can cause models to generalize poorly and result in inaccurate prediction performance metrics if models are not validated thoroughly. In this paper, we propose methods to control for …
Causal inference from observational data requires assumptions. These assumptions range from measuring confounders to identifying instruments. Traditionally, causal inference assumptions have focused on estimation of effects for a single treatment. In this work, we construct techniques for estimation with multiple treat…
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.
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.
KRCD detects unobserved confounders in nonlinear observational data.
problem Detecting unobserved confounders in nonlinear observational studies.
method Kernel Regression Confounder Detection (KRCD) using reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.
result KRCD outperforms existing methods and achieves superior computational efficiency.
Paper proposes RCD method to discover causal structure with latent confounders.
problem Causal discovery from data with latent confounders.
method Repetitive causal discovery (RCD) method to infer causal directions between observed variables.
result RCD effectively identifies latent confounders and causal directions between observed variables.
Study identifies conditions for proxy adjustment in confounded binary treatment outcomes.
problem Average causal effect estimation with a non-differentially mismeasured binary confounder.
method Identifies conditions for proxy adjustment in the presence of a non-differentially mismeasured binary confounder.
result Adjusting for a non-differentially mismeasured binary proxy can improve estimation of the average causal effect.
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.
The paper proposes a method to assess surrogate heterogeneity in non-randomized data.
problem Lack of methods to evaluate surrogate heterogeneity in non-randomized data.
method Proposes a framework using meta-learners to assess surrogate heterogeneity in real-world data.
result Identifies individuals for whom the surrogate is a valid replacement of the primary outcome.
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.
New method recovers latent confounders from high-dimensional proxy variables.
problem Detecting latent confounders from high-dimensional proxy variables.
method Proxy Confounder Factorization (PCF) framework using ICA-PCF and GD-PCF.
result ICA-PCF recovers confounders with high correlation and low error in synthetic and real-world data.
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.
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 approach for causal inference with interdependent, time-varying latent confounders.
problem Estimating causal effects with interdependent, time-varying latent confounders.
method Variational estimation with a representer theorem and random input space.
result Demonstrates effectiveness on various temporal datasets.
Machine Learning is proving invaluable across disciplines. However, its success is often limited by the quality and quantity of available data, while its adoption by the level of trust that models afford users. Human vs. machine performance is commonly compared empirically to decide whether a certain task should be per…
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…
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.
Proposes BDCM to handle unmeasured confounders in causal inference.
problem Handling unmeasured confounders in causal inference.
method Backdoor criterion to find variables for diffusion model.
result Captures counterfactual distribution more precisely.
New methods prioritize acquiring confounding features for efficient treatment effect estimation.
problem Efficient treatment effect estimation from observational data with missing confounding information.
method Proposes two acquisition strategies: covariate balancing and reducing factual outcome error.
result Our proposed methods, especially reducing factual outcome error, improve sample efficiency for treatment effect estimation.
Valid causal inference with unobserved confounding in high-dimensional settings.
problem Estimating causal effects with unobserved confounders in high-dimensional data.
method Proposes methods to estimate causal effects with valid confidence intervals in the presence of unobserved confounders and high-dimensional nuisance models.
result Valid semiparametric inference can be obtained with unobserved confounding, and uncertainty intervals are proposed.
Spectral deconfounding improves machine learning models by reducing hidden confounding effects.
problem Machine learning models can be misled by hidden confounders, leading to unreliable predictions.
method Develops a nonlinear spectral deconfounding framework for gradient boosting that modifies boosting dynamics to slow down in confounding-aligned directions.
result Spectrally deconfounded boosting improves estimation of the target function under hidden confounding and is more scalable.