Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization Through the Lens of Structural Causal Models and Individual Fairness

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Ehyaei, Ahmad-Reza, Farnadi, Golnoosh, Samadi, Samira
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866916980183793664
author Ehyaei, Ahmad-Reza
Farnadi, Golnoosh
Samadi, Samira
author_facet Ehyaei, Ahmad-Reza
Farnadi, Golnoosh
Samadi, Samira
contents In recent years, Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO) has garnered substantial interest for its efficacy in data-driven decision-making under distributional uncertainty. However, limited research has explored the application of DRO to address individual fairness concerns, particularly when considering causal structures and sensitive attributes in learning problems. To address this gap, we first formulate the DRO problem from causality and individual fairness perspectives. We then present the DRO dual formulation as an efficient tool to convert the DRO problem into a more tractable and computationally efficient form. Next, we characterize the closed form of the approximate worst-case loss quantity as a regularizer, eliminating the max-step in the min-max DRO problem. We further estimate the regularizer in more general cases and explore the relationship between DRO and classical robust optimization. Finally, by removing the assumption of a known structural causal model, we provide finite sample error bounds when designing DRO with empirical distributions and estimated causal structures to ensure efficiency and robust learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_26275
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization Through the Lens of Structural Causal Models and Individual Fairness
Ehyaei, Ahmad-Reza
Farnadi, Golnoosh
Samadi, Samira
Machine Learning
In recent years, Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO) has garnered substantial interest for its efficacy in data-driven decision-making under distributional uncertainty. However, limited research has explored the application of DRO to address individual fairness concerns, particularly when considering causal structures and sensitive attributes in learning problems. To address this gap, we first formulate the DRO problem from causality and individual fairness perspectives. We then present the DRO dual formulation as an efficient tool to convert the DRO problem into a more tractable and computationally efficient form. Next, we characterize the closed form of the approximate worst-case loss quantity as a regularizer, eliminating the max-step in the min-max DRO problem. We further estimate the regularizer in more general cases and explore the relationship between DRO and classical robust optimization. Finally, by removing the assumption of a known structural causal model, we provide finite sample error bounds when designing DRO with empirical distributions and estimated causal structures to ensure efficiency and robust learning.
title Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Optimization Through the Lens of Structural Causal Models and Individual Fairness
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26275