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Main Authors: Du, Yuxi, Zhang, Zhiheng, Li, Haoxuan, Fang, Cong, Xu, Jixing, Zhen, Peng, Guo, Jiecheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.22612
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author Du, Yuxi
Zhang, Zhiheng
Li, Haoxuan
Fang, Cong
Xu, Jixing
Zhen, Peng
Guo, Jiecheng
author_facet Du, Yuxi
Zhang, Zhiheng
Li, Haoxuan
Fang, Cong
Xu, Jixing
Zhen, Peng
Guo, Jiecheng
contents Causal inference in modern largescale systems faces growing challenges, including highdimensional covariates, multi-valued treatments, massive observational (OBS) data, and limited randomized controlled trial (RCT) samples due to cost constraints. We formalize treatment-induced structural non-overlap and show that, under this regime, commonly used weighted fusion methods provably fail to satisfy randomized identifying restrictions.To address this issue,we propose a constrained joint estimation framework that minimizes observational risk while enforcing causal validity through orthogonal experimental moment conditions. We further show that structural non-overlap creates a feasibility obstruction for moment enforcement in the original covariate space.We also derive a penalized primaldual algorithm that jointly learns representations and predictors, and establish oracle inequalities decomposing error into overlap recovery, moment violation, and statistical terms.Extensive synthetic experiments demonstrate robust performance under varying degrees of nonoverlap. A largescale ridehailing application shows that our method achieves substantial gains over existing baselines, matching the performance of models trained with significantly more RCT data.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_22612
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Feasible Fusion: Constrained Joint Estimation under Structural Non-Overlap
Du, Yuxi
Zhang, Zhiheng
Li, Haoxuan
Fang, Cong
Xu, Jixing
Zhen, Peng
Guo, Jiecheng
Methodology
Causal inference in modern largescale systems faces growing challenges, including highdimensional covariates, multi-valued treatments, massive observational (OBS) data, and limited randomized controlled trial (RCT) samples due to cost constraints. We formalize treatment-induced structural non-overlap and show that, under this regime, commonly used weighted fusion methods provably fail to satisfy randomized identifying restrictions.To address this issue,we propose a constrained joint estimation framework that minimizes observational risk while enforcing causal validity through orthogonal experimental moment conditions. We further show that structural non-overlap creates a feasibility obstruction for moment enforcement in the original covariate space.We also derive a penalized primaldual algorithm that jointly learns representations and predictors, and establish oracle inequalities decomposing error into overlap recovery, moment violation, and statistical terms.Extensive synthetic experiments demonstrate robust performance under varying degrees of nonoverlap. A largescale ridehailing application shows that our method achieves substantial gains over existing baselines, matching the performance of models trained with significantly more RCT data.
title Feasible Fusion: Constrained Joint Estimation under Structural Non-Overlap
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.22612