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Causal inference with misspecified exposure mappings: separating definitions and assumptions

Fredrik Sävje

arXiv 11 Mar 2021 · Mathematics — Statistics Theory · publishedBiometrika (2023) · 25 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2103.06471 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Exposure mappings facilitate investigations of complex causal effects when units interact in experiments. Current methods require experimenters to use the same exposure mappings both to define the effect of interest and to impose assumptions on the interference structure. However, the two roles rarely coincide in practice, and experimenters are forced to make the often questionable assumption that their exposures are correctly specified. This paper argues that the two roles exposure mappings currently serve can, and typically should, be separated, so that exposures are used to define effects without necessarily assuming that they are capturing the complete causal structure in the experiment. The paper shows that this approach is practically viable by providing conditions under which exposure effects can be precisely estimated when the exposures are misspecified. Some important questions remain open.

Citation extraction

29
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113
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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Leung2022Causal APACrefauthors Leung, M P. APACrefauthors \ (2022) 20221.000324100%
2Saevje2021Average APACrefauthors Sävje, F. , Aronow, P M. \ Hudgens,… (2021) 20211.000295100%
3Aronow2017Estimating APACrefauthors Aronow, P M. \ Samii, C. APACref… (2017) 20171.000186100%
4Hudgens2008 APACrefauthors Hudgens, M G. \ Halloran, M E. APACrefaut… (2008) 20080.84333100%
5Ross2011Fundamentals APACrefauthors Ross, N. APACrefauthors \ (2011) 20110.73732100%
6Lin2013Agnostic APACrefauthors Lin, W. APACrefauthors \ (2013) 20130.64422100%
7Manski2013Identification APACrefauthors Manski, C F. APACrefauthors \ (2012) 20130.58531100%
8Kojevnikov2021Limit APACrefauthors Kojevnikov, D. , Marmer, V. \ Son… (2020) 20210.51121100%
9Blattman2021Place APACrefauthors Blattman, C. , Green, D P. , Ortega… (2021) 20210.40511100%
10Bohrnstedt1969Exact APACrefauthors Bohrnstedt, G W. \ Goldberger, A… (1969) 19690.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 29 scored citations.

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