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RieszNet and ForestRiesz: Automatic Debiased Machine Learning with Neural Nets and Random Forests

Victor Chernozhukov, Whitney K. Newey, Victor Quintas-Martinez, Vasilis Syrgkanis

arXiv 6 Oct 2021 · Machine Learning · 5 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2110.03031 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Many causal and policy effects of interest are defined by linear functionals of high-dimensional or non-parametric regression functions. $\sqrt{n}$-consistent and asymptotically normal estimation of the object of interest requires debiasing to reduce the effects of regularization and/or model selection on the object of interest. Debiasing is typically achieved by adding a correction term to the plug-in estimator of the functional, which leads to properties such as semi-parametric efficiency, double robustness, and Neyman orthogonality. We implement an automatic debiasing procedure based on automatically learning the Riesz representation of the linear functional using Neural Nets and Random Forests. Our method only relies on black-box evaluation oracle access to the linear functional and does not require knowledge of its analytic form. We propose a multitasking Neural Net debiasing method with stochastic gradient descent minimization of a combined Riesz representer and regression loss, while sharing representation layers for the two functions. We also propose a Random Forest method which learns a locally linear representation of the Riesz function. Even though our method applies to arbitrary functionals, we experimentally find that it performs well compared to the state of art neural net based algorithm of Shi et al. (2019) for the case of the average treatment effect functional. We also evaluate our method on the problem of estimating average marginal effects with continuous treatments, using semi-synthetic data of gasoline price changes on gasoline demand.

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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
1Shi, C., Blei, D. M., and Veitch, V (2019) Adapting neural networks for the estimation of treatment effects0.96911491%
2Athey, S., Tibshirani, J., and Wager, S (2019) Generalized random forests0.87482100%
3Chernozhukov, V., Newey, W. K., Quintas-Martinez, V., and Syrgkanis, V (2021) Automatic debiased machine learning via neural nets for generalized linear regression self0.87462100%
4Chernozhukov, V., Chetverikov, D., Demirer, M., Duflo, E., Hansen, C… (2018) Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters self0.64422100%
5Newey, W. K. and Robins, J. R (2018) Cross-fitting and fast remainder rates for semiparametric estimation self0.64422100%
6Rosenbaum, P. R. and Rubin, D. B (1983) The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects0.64422100%
7Athey, S. and Wager, S (2021) Policy learning with observational data0.51121100%
8Bang, H. and Robins, J. M (2005) Doubly robust estimation in missing data and causal inference models0.51121100%
9Belloni, A., Chen, D., Chernozhukov, V., and Hansen, C (2012) Sparse models and methods for optimal instruments with an application to eminent domain self0.51121100%
10Chen, Q., Syrgkanis, V., and Austern, M (2022) Debiased machine learning without sample-splitting for stable estimators self0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 32 scored citations.

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1A Unifying Framework for Robust and Efficient Inference with Unstructured Data0.92843
2A Primer on Deep Learning for Causal Inference0.84333
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4Inference on Strongly Identified Functionals of Weakly Identified Functions0.73732
5Direct Bias-Correction Term Estimation for Average Treatment Effect Estimation0.73733
6Orthogonal Series Estimation for the Ratio of Conditional Expectation Functions0.64422
7Long Story Short: Omitted Variable Bias in Causal Machine Learning0.51122
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