Uplift modeling with continuous treatments: A predict-then-optimize approach

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: De Vos, Simon, Bockel-Rickermann, Christopher, Lessmann, Stefan, Verbeke, Wouter
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author De Vos, Simon
Bockel-Rickermann, Christopher
Lessmann, Stefan
Verbeke, Wouter
author_facet De Vos, Simon
Bockel-Rickermann, Christopher
Lessmann, Stefan
Verbeke, Wouter
contents The goal of uplift modeling is to recommend actions that optimize specific outcomes by determining which entities should receive treatment. One common approach involves two steps: first, an inference step that estimates conditional average treatment effects (CATEs), and second, an optimization step that ranks entities based on their CATE values and assigns treatment to the top k within a given budget. While uplift modeling typically focuses on binary treatments, many real-world applications are characterized by continuous-valued treatments, i.e., a treatment dose. This paper presents a predict-then-optimize framework to allow for continuous treatments in uplift modeling. First, in the inference step, conditional average dose responses (CADRs) are estimated from data using causal machine learning techniques. Second, in the optimization step, we frame the assignment task of continuous treatments as a dose-allocation problem and solve it using integer linear programming (ILP). This approach allows decision-makers to efficiently and effectively allocate treatment doses while balancing resource availability, with the possibility of adding extra constraints like fairness considerations or adapting the objective function to take into account instance-dependent costs and benefits to maximize utility. The experiments compare several CADR estimators and illustrate the trade-offs between policy value and fairness, as well as the impact of an adapted objective function. This showcases the framework's advantages and flexibility across diverse applications in healthcare, lending, and human resource management. All code is available on github.com/SimonDeVos/UMCT.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_09232
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Uplift modeling with continuous treatments: A predict-then-optimize approach
De Vos, Simon
Bockel-Rickermann, Christopher
Lessmann, Stefan
Verbeke, Wouter
Machine Learning
The goal of uplift modeling is to recommend actions that optimize specific outcomes by determining which entities should receive treatment. One common approach involves two steps: first, an inference step that estimates conditional average treatment effects (CATEs), and second, an optimization step that ranks entities based on their CATE values and assigns treatment to the top k within a given budget. While uplift modeling typically focuses on binary treatments, many real-world applications are characterized by continuous-valued treatments, i.e., a treatment dose. This paper presents a predict-then-optimize framework to allow for continuous treatments in uplift modeling. First, in the inference step, conditional average dose responses (CADRs) are estimated from data using causal machine learning techniques. Second, in the optimization step, we frame the assignment task of continuous treatments as a dose-allocation problem and solve it using integer linear programming (ILP). This approach allows decision-makers to efficiently and effectively allocate treatment doses while balancing resource availability, with the possibility of adding extra constraints like fairness considerations or adapting the objective function to take into account instance-dependent costs and benefits to maximize utility. The experiments compare several CADR estimators and illustrate the trade-offs between policy value and fairness, as well as the impact of an adapted objective function. This showcases the framework's advantages and flexibility across diverse applications in healthcare, lending, and human resource management. All code is available on github.com/SimonDeVos/UMCT.
title Uplift modeling with continuous treatments: A predict-then-optimize approach
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.09232