Abhinandan Dalal, Iris Horng, Yang Feng, Dylan S. Small
arXiv 16 Feb 2026 · Statistics — Methodology
arXiv:2602.14414 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text
Sensitivity analysis is widely used to assess the robustness of causal conclusions in observational studies, yet its interaction with the structure of measured covariates is often overlooked. When latent confounders cannot be directly adjusted for and are instead controlled using proxy variables, strong associations between exposure and measured proxies can amplify sensitivity to residual confounding. We formalize this phenomenon in linear regression settings by showing that a simple ratio involving the exposure model coefficient and residual exposure variance provides an observable measure of this increased sensitivity. Applying our framework to smoking and lung cancer, we document how growing socioeconomic stratification in smoking behavior over time leads to heightened sensitivity to unmeasured confounding in more recent data. These results highlight the importance of multicollinearity when interpreting sensitivity analyses based on proxy adjustment.
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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.
| Reference | Intensity | Mentions | Sections | Main text | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mackenbach, Johan P and others (2006) Health inequalities: Europe in profile | 0.511 | 2 | 1 | 100% |
| 2 | Angrist, Joshua D and Lavy, Victor (1999) Using Maimonides' rule to estimate the effect of class size on scholastic achievement | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 3 | Chetty, Raj and Friedman, John N and Hilger, Nathaniel and Saez, Emm… (2011) How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from Project STAR | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 4 | Cinelli, Carlos and Hazlett, Chad (2020) Making sense of sensitivity: Extending omitted variable bias | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 5 | Coleman, James (1968) The concept of equality of educational opportunity | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 6 | Cornfield, Jerome and Haenszel, William and Hammond, E Cuyler and Li… (1959) Smoking and lung cancer: recent evidence and a discussion of some questions | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 7 | Di Novi, Cinzia and Marenzi, Anna (2019) The smoking epidemic across generations, genders, and educational groups: A matter of diffusion of innovations | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 8 | Farrar, Donald E and Glauber, Robert R (1967) Multicollinearity in regression analysis: the problem revisited | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 9 | Garrett, Bridgette E and Martell, Brandi N and Caraballo, Ralph S an… (2019) Socioeconomic differences in cigarette smoking among sociodemographic groups | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| 10 | Goldberger, Arthur Stanley (1991) A course in econometrics | 0.405 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
Showing the top 10 of 25 scored citations.