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Policy relevance of causal quantities in networks

Sahil Loomba, Dean Eckles

arXiv 18 Jul 2025 · Statistics — Methodology

arXiv:2507.14391 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

In settings where units' outcomes are affected by others' treatments, there has been a proliferation of ways to quantify effects of treatments on outcomes. Here we describe how many proposed estimands can be represented as involving one of two ways of averaging over units and treatment assignments. The more common representation often results in quantities that are irrelevant, or at least insufficient, for optimal choice of policies governing treatment assignment. The other representation often yields quantities that lack an interpretation as summaries of unit-level effects, but that we argue may still be relevant to policy choice. Among various estimands, the expected average outcome -- or its contrast between two different policies -- can be represented both ways and, we argue, merits further attention.

Citation extraction

21
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appendix boundary found by appendix_titled_section at “Appendix” · 41% 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, Jing and De Janvry, Alain and Sadoulet, Elisabeth (2015) Social Networks and the Decision to Insure0.92843100%
2Sävje, F (2023) Causal inference with misspecified exposure mappings: Separating definitions and assumptions0.6443267%
3Chin, Alex and Eckles, Dean and Ugander, Johan (2022) Evaluating stochastic seeding strategies in networks self0.64422100%
4Peter M. Aronow and Cyrus Samii (2017) Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment0.5114225%
5Hudgens, Michael G and Halloran, M Elizabeth (2008) Toward causal inference with interference0.51121100%
6Manski, Charles F (2013) Identification of treatment response with social interactions0.51121100%
7Fredrik Sävje and Peter M. Aronow and Michael G. Hudgens (2021) Average treatment effects in the presence of unknown interference0.51121100%
8Auerbach, Eric and Auerbach, Jonathan and Tabord-Meehan, Max (2024) Discussion of ‘Causal inference with misspecified exposure mappings: Separating definitions and assumptions’0.40511100%
9D. R. Cox (1958) Planning of Experiments0.40511100%
10Eckles, Dean and Karrer, Brian and Ugander, Johan (2017) Design and analysis of experiments in networks: Reducing bias from interference self0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 21 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
1Decomposition of Spillover Effects Under Misspecification: Pseudo-True Estimands and a Local-Global Extension0.64422