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Local conformal prediction for individual causal effects

Fernando Delbianco, Fernando Tohmé

arXiv 10 Aug 2026 · Statistics — Methodology

arXiv:2608.09612 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

Standard CATE estimators become inadequate under strong treatment-effect heterogeneity: confidence intervals for conditional means need not cover individual counterfactual effects. We propose an Individualized Causal Prediction (ICP) framework that constructs finite-sample valid conformal prediction intervals for the individual causal effect of a specific query unit. The method localizes calibration to a causally relevant neighborhood using cosine similarity weighted by Causal Forest variable importance, augments small local samples synthetically, and calibrates intervals with doubly robust AIPW conformity scores satisfying Neyman orthogonality. Under standard identifying assumptions (SUTVA and strong ignorability) and an outcome-independent calibration-set selection condition, the resulting intervals attain marginal coverage at the nominal level. The local design also supports approximately conditional coverage by making calibration scores more representative of the query unit. Experiments on a high-heterogeneity synthetic dataset and the IHDP benchmark demonstrate that local strategies improve point accuracy over global baselines while maintaining nominal or above-nominal coverage.

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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
1Lei, Lihua and Candès, Emmanuel J (2021) Conformal inference of counterfactuals and individual treatment effects1.00064100%
2Chernozhukov, Victor and Chetverikov, Denis and Demirer, Mert and Du… (2018) Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters0.92843100%
3Wager, Stefan and Athey, Susan (2018) Estimation and Inference of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects using Random Forests0.92843100%
4Vovk, Vladimir and Gammerman, Alexander and Shafer, Glenn (2005) Algorithmic learning in a random world0.84333100%
5Hill, Jennifer L (2011) Bayesian Nonparametric Modeling for Causal Inference0.64422100%
6Meng, Xiao-Li (2018) Statistical Paradises and Paradoxes in Big Data (I): Law of Large Populations, Big Data Paradox, and the 2016 US Presidential El…0.64422100%
7Peters, Jonas and Bühlmann, Peter and Meinshausen, Nicolai (2016) Causal Inference by Using Invariant Prediction: Identification and Confidence Intervals0.64422100%
8Peters, Jonas and Janzing, Dominik and Schölkopf, Bernhard (2017) Elements of Causal Inference: Foundations and Learning Algorithms0.64422100%
9Ahrens, Achim and Aitken, Christopher and Schaffer, Mark E (2020) Using machine learning methods to support causal inference in econometrics0.40511100%
10Cunningham, Scott (2026) Claude Code 50: Claude is Holding On To Its Reasons0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 16 scored citations.