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Distributionally Robust Treatment Effect

Ruonan Xu, Xiye Yang

arXiv 14 Dec 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2512.12781 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Using only retrospective data, we propose an estimator for predicting the treatment effect for the same treatment/policy to be implemented in another location or time period, which requires no input from the target population. More specifically, we minimize the worst-case mean square error for the prediction of treatment effect within a class of distributions inside the Wasserstein ball centered on the source distribution. Since the joint distribution of potential outcomes is not identified, we pick the best and worst copulas of the marginal distributions of two potential outcomes as our optimistic and pessimistic optimization objects for partial identification. As a result, we can attain the upper and lower bounds of the minimax optimizer. The minimax solution differs depending on whether treatment effects are homogeneous or heterogeneous. We derive the consistency and asymptotic distribution of the bound estimators, provide a two-step inference procedure, and discuss the choice of the Wasserstein ball radius.

Citation extraction

48
references
69
in-text mentions
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distinct cited
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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
1Hotz, V Joseph and Imbens, Guido W and Mortimer, Julie H (2005) Predicting the efficacy of future training programs using past experiences at other locations1.00054100%
2Imbens, Guido W and Manski, Charles F (2004) Confidence intervals for partially identified parameters0.92843100%
3Guo, Zijian (2024) Statistical inference for maximin effects: Identifying stable associations across multiple studies0.84333100%
4Stoye, Jörg (2009) More on confidence intervals for partially identified parameters0.7373367%
5Gao, Rui and Kleywegt, Anton (2023) Distributionally robust stochastic optimization with Wasserstein distance0.64422100%
6Spini, Pietro Emilio (2021) Robustness, heterogeneous treatment effects and covariate shifts0.64422100%
7Zhang, Yi and Huang, Melody and Imai, Kosuke (2024) Minimax Regret Estimation for Generalizing Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Multisite Data0.64422100%
8Blanchet, Jose and Kang, Yang and Murthy, Karthyek (2019) Robust Wasserstein profile inference and applications to machine learning0.5853333%
9van der Vaart, Aad W. and Jon A. Wellner (1996) Weak Convergence and Empirical Processes0.5113233%
10Dehejia, Rajeev H and Wahba, Sadek (1999) Causal effects in nonexperimental studies: Reevaluating the evaluation of training programs0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 48 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
1An econometrician's guide to optimal transport0.40511