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Causal clustering: design of cluster experiments under network interference

Davide Viviano, Lihua Lei, Guido Imbens, Brian Karrer, Okke Schrijvers, Liang Shi

arXiv 23 Oct 2023 · Econometrics · 6 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2310.14983 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper studies the design of cluster experiments to estimate the global treatment effect in the presence of network spillovers. We provide a framework to choose the clustering that minimizes the worst-case mean-squared error of the estimated global effect. We show that optimal clustering solves a novel penalized min-cut optimization problem computed via off-the-shelf semi-definite programming algorithms. Our analysis also characterizes simple conditions to choose between any two cluster designs, including choosing between a cluster or individual-level randomization. We illustrate the method's properties using unique network data from the universe of Facebook's users and existing data from a field experiment.

Citation extraction

70
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appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 40% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

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
1Cai, J., A. D. Janvry, and E. Sadoulet (2015) Social networks and the decision to insure1.000154100%
2Karrer, B., L. Shi, M. Bhole, M. Goldman, T. Palmer, C. Gelman, M. K… (2021) Network experimentation at scale self0.96510490%
3Baird, S., J. A. Bohren, C. McIntosh, and B. Özler (2018) Optimal design of experiments in the presence of interference0.9285380%
4Von Luxburg, U (2007) A tutorial on spectral clustering0.8434375%
5Eckles, D., B. Karrer, and J. Ugander (2017) Design and analysis of experiments in networks: Reducing bias from interference0.73732100%
6Toulis, P. and E. Kao (2013) Estimation of causal peer influence effects0.73732100%
7Aronow, P. M. and C. Samii (2017) Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment0.64422100%
8Athey, S., D. Eckles, and G. W. Imbens (2018) Exact p-values for network interference0.64422100%
9Breza, E., A. G. Chandrasekhar, T. H. McCormick, and M. Pan (2020) Using aggregated relational data to feasibly identify network structure without network data0.64422100%
10Egger, D., J. Haushofer, E. Miguel, P. Niehaus, and M. Walker (2022) General equilibrium effects of cash transfers: experimental evidence from kenya0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 70 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
1ARMA-Design: Optimal Treatment Allocation Strategies for A/B Testing in Partially Observable Experiments0.73732
2Identifying Treatment and Spillover Effects Using Exposure Contrasts0.51121
3Multiple Randomization Designs: Estimation and Inference with Interference0.40511
4Linear estimation of global average treatment effects0.40511
5A Primer on the Analysis of Randomized Experiments and a Survey of some Recent Advances0.40511
6Higher-Order Causal Message Passing for Experimentation with Complex Interference0.40511
7Can We Validate Counterfactual Estimations in the Presence of General Network Interference?0.40511
8Experimental Design for Matching0.40511
9Validating Causal Message Passing Against Network-Aware Methods on Real Experiments0.40511
10Robust Signal Maximization in Spillover Experiments0.40511