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Average Direct and Indirect Causal Effects under Interference

Yuchen Hu, Shuangning Li, Stefan Wager

arXiv 8 Apr 2021 · Statistics — Methodology · publishedBiometrika (2022) · 27 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2104.03802 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We propose a definition for the average indirect effect of a binary treatment in the potential outcomes model for causal inference under cross-unit interference. Our definition is analogous to the standard definition of the average direct effect, and can be expressed without needing to compare outcomes across multiple randomized experiments. We show that the proposed indirect effect satisfies a decomposition theorem whereby, in a Bernoulli trial, the sum of the average direct and indirect effects always corresponds to the effect of a policy intervention that infinitesimally increases treatment probabilities. We also consider a number of parametric models for interference, and find that our non-parametric indirect effect remains a natural estimand when re-expressed in the context of these models.

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29
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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
1Sävje, F., Aronow, P. M. & Hudgens, M. G (2021) Average treatment effects in the presence of unknown interference1.00074100%
2Leung, M. P (2020) Treatment and spillover effects under network interference1.00055100%
3Aronow, P. M. & Samii, C (2017) Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment0.92844100%
4Cai, J., De Janvry, A. & Sadoulet, E (2015) Social networks and the decision to insure0.92843100%
5Hudgens, M. G. & Halloran, M. E (2008) Toward causal inference with interference0.92843100%
6Li, S. & Wager, S (2020) Random graph asymptotics for treatment effect estimation under network interference self0.92843100%
7VanderWeele, T. J. & Tchetgen Tchetgen, E. J (2011) Effect partitioning under interference in two-stage randomized vaccine trials0.81142100%
8Basse, G. W., Feller, A. & Toulis, P (2019) Randomization tests of causal effects under interference0.73732100%
9Bakshy, E., Rosenn, I., Marlow, C. & Adamic, L (2012) The role of social networks in information diffusion0.64422100%
10Halloran, M. E. & Struchiner, C. J (1995) Causal inference in infectious diseases0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 29 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Causal Inference with Noncompliance and Unknown Interference0.92853
2Decomposition of Spillover Effects Under Misspecification: Pseudo-True Estimands and a Local-Global Extension0.87472
3Policy Learning with Competing Agents0.58531
4Fixed-Population Causal Inference for Models of Equilibrium0.51121
5Inference for Two-stage Experiments under Covariate-Adaptive Randomization0.40511
6Causal Interpretation of Linear Social Interaction Models with Endogenous Networks0.40511
7Individualized Policy Evaluation and Learning under Clustered Network Interference0.40511
8Design-based Estimation Theory for Complex Experiments0.40511
9Regression Discontinuity Design with Spillovers0.40511
10A Primer on the Analysis of Randomized Experiments and a Survey of some Recent Advances0.40511