Predicting delayed outcomes is an important problem in recommender systems (e.g., if customers will finish reading an ebook). We formalize the problem as an adversarial, delayed online learning problem and consider how a proxy for the delayed outcome (e.g., if customers read a third of the book in 24 hours) can help mi…
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48 results for “proxy outcomes”
New method identifies proxies for causal effects on multiple outcomes.
problem Estimating causal effects in scenarios with multiple outcomes and treatments.
method Causal discovery method leveraging multiple outcomes as proxies for each treatment effect.
result Parallel studies of multiple outcomes can assist in causal identification.
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.
DFPV improves PCL for confounded bandit policy evaluation.
problem Estimating causal effects in confounded settings with high-dimensional data.
method Deep feature proxy variable method (DFPV) for high-dimensional, nonlinear relationships.
result DFPV outperforms state-of-the-art methods on synthetic benchmarks and confounded bandit problems.
New method robust to random distributional shifts in prediction.
problem Random distributional shifts in real-world settings.
method Hybrid approach combining long-term and proxy outcomes.
result Hybrid approach yields lower mean-squared error than current methods.
Motivated by the need to audit complex and black box models, there has been extensive research on quantifying how data features influence model predictions. Feature influence can be direct (a direct influence on model outcomes) and indirect (model outcomes are influenced via proxy features). Feature influence can also …
A machine learning model may exhibit discrimination when used to make decisions involving people. One potential cause for such outcomes is that the model uses a statistical proxy for a protected demographic attribute. In this paper we formulate a definition of proxy use for the setting of linear regression and present …
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.
Estimates proxy-based inference adjustments for distribution shifts.
problem Imperfect proxy data leads to biased inference.
method Empirical calibration of proxy-primary metric discrepancy as a random effect.
result Empowers inference without individual-level response data.
New methods identify causal effects without needing complete proxy variables.
problem Identifying causal effects in the presence of unmeasured confounders.
method Partial identification methods that do not require completeness of proxy variables.
result Obtain bounds on causal effects using available proxy variables.
Bayesian method estimates causal effects with proxy networks.
problem Estimating causal effects with only proxy measurements of a latent interference network.
method Structural causal model with Block Gibbs sampler and Locally Informed Proposals.
result Accurately estimates causal effects even with noisy proxy networks.
Proposes a test to ensure predictive algorithms predict intended outcomes better than unintended ones.
problem Unintended model behavior leading to prediction of unintended outcomes.
method Falsification framework using nonparametric hypothesis testing to compare prediction losses across outcomes.
result Establishes discriminant validity with respect to gender but not race in an admissions setting.
Study shows how adjusting for a binary proxy can bound causal effects.
problem Bounding causal effects with a binary confounder and proxy.
method Monotonicity assumption applied to a binary confounder and observed proxy.
result Adjusting for a proxy produces a measure of the effect between unadjusted and true measures.
Estimating the long-term effects of treatments is of interest in many fields. A common challenge in estimating such treatment effects is that long-term outcomes are unobserved in the time frame needed to make policy decisions. One approach to overcome this missing data problem is to analyze treatments effects on an int…
Deconfounding Temporal Autoencoder: Estimating Treatment Effects over Time Using Noisy Proxiesstat.ML
Develops a method to estimate treatment effects using noisy proxies over time.
problem Estimating individualized treatment effects from noisy proxies of confounders.
method Deconfounding Temporal Autoencoder (DTA) combining autoencoder and causal regularization.
result Improves treatment effect estimates by leveraging noisy proxies and learning hidden confounders.
Proposes a falsification framework to test algorithmic discriminant validity.
problem Unintended model behavior in predictive algorithms.
method Falsification framework based on statistical tests comparing prediction losses across outcomes.
result Establishes discriminant validity for some outcomes but not others.
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.
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.
Kernel methods estimate causal effects with a single proxy for deterministic confounders.
problem Estimating causal effects with a single proxy for an unobserved confounder.
method Two kernel-based methods: two-stage regression and maximum moment restriction.
result Both kernel methods can consistently estimate the causal effect.
Proposes a method to correct for covariate shift in meta-analysis of randomized trials.
problem Invalidation of standard IPD meta-analysis due to covariate shift across studies.
method Placebo-anchored transport framework that treats source-trial outcomes as proxy signals and target-trial placebo outcomes as gold labels.
result Yields target-identified effect estimates in connected targets and a principled screen--then--transport procedure in disconnected targets.
Optimal treatment regime uses proxy variables to improve decision-making.
problem Insufficient covariates in observational data lead to confounding issues.
method Proximal causal inference framework and outcome/treatment confounding bridges.
result The proposed optimal treatment regime outperforms existing ones.
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.
Many Proxy Controlsecon.EM
New method handles many noisy proxy controls for causal inference.
problem Causal inference with many noisy proxy controls and unknown confounders.
method Linear models with rank-restricted and sparse nuisance parameters, penalization methods.
result Estimators achieve better performance in high dimensions, especially with many proxies.
New method identifies latent treatment effects from proxy models.
problem Identifying heterogeneous treatment effects under unobserved confounding.
method Compressed observable operator and spectral analysis of treatment effects.
result Eigenvalues of the operator represent latent treatment effects.
Networks as Proxies: a relational approach towards economic complexity in the Roman periodphysics.soc-ph
Based on the assumption that economic complexity is characterised by the interactions of economic agents (who) constantly change their actions and strategies in response to the outcome they mutually create, this paper presents how network models can be used a proxies for the mapping, quantification and analysis of Roma…
Combining experimental and observational data for long-term causal effects.
problem Estimating causal effects of treatment on long-term outcomes using mixed data types.
method Three approaches for fusing experimental and observational data: equal confounding, shared confounder, and proxy variables.
result Developed estimators for each approach and analyzed their robustness.
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.
New framework for choosing optimal proxy metrics from past experiments.
problem Difficult to measure long-term treatment effects in experiments.
method Statistical framework to define and construct optimal proxy metrics.
result Optimal proxy metric depends on experiment's sample size.
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 method identifies causal relationships using proxy variables in the presence of unmeasured confounders.
problem Challenges in inferring causal relationships due to unmeasured confounding.
method Develops a general nonparametric approach using a single negative control outcome (NCO) and negative control exposure (NCE).
result Establishes a new identification result and proposes a kernel-based testing procedure.
Predictive analytics is increasingly used to guide decision-making in many applications. However, in practice, we often have limited data on the true predictive task of interest, and must instead rely on more abundant data on a closely-related proxy predictive task. For example, e-commerce platforms use abundant custom…
New concept: reward hacking, where optimizing a flawed reward function can hurt performance.
problem Optimizing imperfect reward functions leads to poor performance.
method Formal definition and analysis of reward hacking, examining conditions for unhackability.
result Reward functions are usually hackable, making it hard to align AI with human values.
Experimenting, Fast and Slow: Bayesian Optimization of Long-term Outcomes with Online Experimentscs.LG
Bayesian optimization for long-term outcomes using fast and slow experiments.
problem Optimizing long-term system effects with short-term misleading results.
method Combining fast and slow experiments for Bayesian optimization.
result Sequential optimization over large action spaces in a short time.
Proposes new method to handle hidden confounders in causal mediation analysis.
problem Break down total effect of treatment on outcome through different causal pathways.
method Combines proxy strategies and deep learning to uncover latent variables and estimate causal effects.
result Validated effectiveness of the proposed method for causal fairness analysis.
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…
We develop a proxy model based on deep learning methods to accelerate the simulations of oil reservoirs--by three orders of magnitude--compared to industry-strength physics-based PDE solvers. This paper describes a new architectural approach to this task, accompanied by a thorough experimental evaluation on a publicly …
New method improves reliability of selecting individuals based on predicted treatment effects.
problem Reliability of selecting individuals based on predicted conditional average treatment effects (CATE) is unreliable.
method Denoised Conformal Alignment, combining proxy errors, variance estimation, and Benjamini-Hochberg selection.
result Significantly improved power in selecting individuals while maintaining false discovery rate control.
Assessing the fairness of a decision making system with respect to a protected class, such as gender or race, is challenging when class membership labels are unavailable. Probabilistic models for predicting the protected class based on observable proxies, such as surname and geolocation for race, are sometimes used to …
Paper proposes RRD to learn proxy rewards for sparse delayed rewards in episodic reinforcement learning.
problem Learning from sparse and delayed rewards in reinforcement learning.
method Randomized Return Decomposition (RRD) algorithm to redistribute rewards.
result Substantial improvement over baseline algorithms in experiments.
We consider causal inference in the presence of unobserved confounding. We study the case where a proxy is available for the unobserved confounding in the form of a network connecting the units. For example, the link structure of a social network carries information about its members. We show how to effectively use the…
Unified framework for estimating indirect effects in observational studies with unmeasured confounding.
problem Challenges in evaluating indirect effects due to unmeasured confounding and unethical exposures.
method Developed a unified identification and estimation framework using proximal causal inference.
result Unified identification and estimation of PIIE and causal effect of an intervening variable in settings with pervasive unmeasured confounding.
Study assesses weakly-supervised methods for rare outcomes in medical records.
problem Identifying patients with specific medical conditions using electronic health records.
method Compared three methods (PheNorm, MAP, and sureLDA) in simulations with varying outcomes and silver labels.
result No single method consistently outperformed others, but sureLDA often did well.
The paper develops methods for causal inference from single-cell RNA sequencing data with multiple outcomes.
problem Causal inference from single-cell RNA sequencing data with multiple heterogeneous outcomes.
method Generic semiparametric inference framework for doubly robust estimation with multiple derived outcomes.
result Demonstrates the use of semiparametric inferential results for estimating causal effects in genomics.
Evaluating novel contextual bandit policies using logged data is crucial in applications where exploration is costly, such as medicine. But it usually relies on the assumption of no unobserved confounders, which is bound to fail in practice. We study the question of policy evaluation when we instead have proxies for th…
Improved inference-time alignment using Best-of-N and smoothing.
problem Reward overoptimization in Best-of-N (BoN) due to poor proxy reward models.
method Introduced Soft Best-of-N (SBoN) and analyzed its performance through KL divergence and regret analysis.
result Smoothing helps SBoN mitigate reward overoptimization, especially when proxy reward quality is low.
A new method accounts for predictor dependencies in XAI feature rankings.
problem Assumption of predictor independence in XAI methods leads to unreliable feature rankings.
method Proposes a proxy method to modify XAI outcomes considering predictor dependencies.
result Allows more accurate feature ranking in models with correlated predictors.
Learning individual-level causal effects from observational data, such as inferring the most effective medication for a specific patient, is a problem of growing importance for policy makers. The most important aspect of inferring causal effects from observational data is the handling of confounders, factors that affec…
Proposes a framework for causal inference with processed outcomes in biomedical research.
problem Impact of intra-subject processing on inter-subject statistical inference in biomedical research.
method Semiparametric framework with multiply robust estimators and step-down procedure for high-dimensional inference.
result Superior performance of the proposed approach demonstrated through simulations and application to autism research.