A Systematic Review of Conformal Inference Procedures for Treatment Effect Estimation: Methods and Challenges

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Hauptverfasser: Memmesheimer, Pascal, Heuveline, Vincent, Hesser, Jürgen
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Memmesheimer, Pascal
Heuveline, Vincent
Hesser, Jürgen
author_facet Memmesheimer, Pascal
Heuveline, Vincent
Hesser, Jürgen
contents Treatment effect estimation is essential for informed decision-making in many fields such as healthcare, economics, and public policy. While flexible machine learning models have been widely applied for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects, quantifying the inherent uncertainty of their point predictions remains an issue. Recent advancements in conformal prediction address this limitation by allowing for inexpensive computation, as well as distribution shifts, while still providing frequentist, finite-sample coverage guarantees under minimal assumptions for any point-predictor model. This advancement holds significant potential for improving decision-making in especially high-stakes environments. In this work, we perform a systematic review regarding conformal prediction methods for treatment effect estimation and provide for both the necessary theoretical background. Through a systematic filtering process, we select and analyze eleven key papers, identifying and describing current state-of-the-art methods in this area. Based on our findings, we propose directions for future research.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_21660
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Systematic Review of Conformal Inference Procedures for Treatment Effect Estimation: Methods and Challenges
Memmesheimer, Pascal
Heuveline, Vincent
Hesser, Jürgen
Machine Learning
Treatment effect estimation is essential for informed decision-making in many fields such as healthcare, economics, and public policy. While flexible machine learning models have been widely applied for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects, quantifying the inherent uncertainty of their point predictions remains an issue. Recent advancements in conformal prediction address this limitation by allowing for inexpensive computation, as well as distribution shifts, while still providing frequentist, finite-sample coverage guarantees under minimal assumptions for any point-predictor model. This advancement holds significant potential for improving decision-making in especially high-stakes environments. In this work, we perform a systematic review regarding conformal prediction methods for treatment effect estimation and provide for both the necessary theoretical background. Through a systematic filtering process, we select and analyze eleven key papers, identifying and describing current state-of-the-art methods in this area. Based on our findings, we propose directions for future research.
title A Systematic Review of Conformal Inference Procedures for Treatment Effect Estimation: Methods and Challenges
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21660