Valid causal inference with unobserved confounding in high-dimensional settings

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Moosavi, Niloofar, Gorbach, Tetiana, de Luna, Xavier
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Moosavi, Niloofar
Gorbach, Tetiana
de Luna, Xavier
author_facet Moosavi, Niloofar
Gorbach, Tetiana
de Luna, Xavier
contents Various methods have recently been proposed to estimate causal effects with confidence intervals that are uniformly valid over a set of data generating processes when high-dimensional nuisance models are estimated by post-model-selection or machine learning estimators. These methods typically require that all the confounders are observed to ensure identification of the effects. We contribute by showing how valid semiparametric inference can be obtained in the presence of unobserved confounders and high-dimensional nuisance models. We propose uncertainty intervals which allow for unobserved confounding, and show that the resulting inference is valid when the amount of unobserved confounding is small relative to the sample size; the latter is formalized in terms of convergence rates. Simulation experiments illustrate the finite sample properties of the proposed intervals and investigate an alternative procedure that improves the empirical coverage of the intervals when the amount of unobserved confounding is large. Finally, a case study on the effect of smoking during pregnancy on birth weight is used to illustrate the use of the methods introduced to perform a sensitivity analysis to unobserved confounding.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_06564
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Valid causal inference with unobserved confounding in high-dimensional settings
Moosavi, Niloofar
Gorbach, Tetiana
de Luna, Xavier
Methodology
Machine Learning
62D20, 62D10
Various methods have recently been proposed to estimate causal effects with confidence intervals that are uniformly valid over a set of data generating processes when high-dimensional nuisance models are estimated by post-model-selection or machine learning estimators. These methods typically require that all the confounders are observed to ensure identification of the effects. We contribute by showing how valid semiparametric inference can be obtained in the presence of unobserved confounders and high-dimensional nuisance models. We propose uncertainty intervals which allow for unobserved confounding, and show that the resulting inference is valid when the amount of unobserved confounding is small relative to the sample size; the latter is formalized in terms of convergence rates. Simulation experiments illustrate the finite sample properties of the proposed intervals and investigate an alternative procedure that improves the empirical coverage of the intervals when the amount of unobserved confounding is large. Finally, a case study on the effect of smoking during pregnancy on birth weight is used to illustrate the use of the methods introduced to perform a sensitivity analysis to unobserved confounding.
title Valid causal inference with unobserved confounding in high-dimensional settings
topic Methodology
Machine Learning
62D20, 62D10
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.06564