Average Controlled and Average Natural Micro Direct Effects in Summary Causal Graphs

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Ferreira, Simon, Assaad, Charles K.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Ferreira, Simon
Assaad, Charles K.
author_facet Ferreira, Simon
Assaad, Charles K.
contents In this paper, we investigate the identifiability of average controlled direct effects and average natural direct effects in causal systems represented by summary causal graphs, which are abstractions of full causal graphs, often used in dynamic systems where cycles and omitted temporal information complicate causal inference. Unlike in the traditional linear setting, where direct effects are typically easier to identify and estimate, non-parametric direct effects, which are crucial for handling real-world complexities, particularly in epidemiological contexts where relationships between variables (e.g, genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors) are often non-linear, are much harder to define and identify. In particular, we give sufficient conditions for identifying average controlled micro direct effect and average natural micro direct effect from summary causal graphs in the presence of hidden confounding. Furthermore, we show that the conditions given for the average controlled micro direct effect become also necessary in the setting where there is no hidden confounding and where we are only interested in identifiability by adjustment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_23975
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Average Controlled and Average Natural Micro Direct Effects in Summary Causal Graphs
Ferreira, Simon
Assaad, Charles K.
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
In this paper, we investigate the identifiability of average controlled direct effects and average natural direct effects in causal systems represented by summary causal graphs, which are abstractions of full causal graphs, often used in dynamic systems where cycles and omitted temporal information complicate causal inference. Unlike in the traditional linear setting, where direct effects are typically easier to identify and estimate, non-parametric direct effects, which are crucial for handling real-world complexities, particularly in epidemiological contexts where relationships between variables (e.g, genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors) are often non-linear, are much harder to define and identify. In particular, we give sufficient conditions for identifying average controlled micro direct effect and average natural micro direct effect from summary causal graphs in the presence of hidden confounding. Furthermore, we show that the conditions given for the average controlled micro direct effect become also necessary in the setting where there is no hidden confounding and where we are only interested in identifiability by adjustment.
title Average Controlled and Average Natural Micro Direct Effects in Summary Causal Graphs
topic Artificial Intelligence
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.23975