academic-research.md

Causal Inference Academic Research

The following is a list of key academic research papers in Causal Inference, sorted by topic and date.

• Potential Outcomes
• Dyrected Acyclic Graphs
• Experimental Methods
  • Conditional Average Treatment Effects
  • Adaptive Experiments
  • Sequential Testing
  • Interference
  • Interleaving
• Quasi-Experimental Methods
  • Unconfoundedness
  • Panel Methods
  • Instrumental Variables
  • Regression Discontinuity
• Inference

Note for curators: differently from other sections, the aim of this list is not to be exhaustive but rather to cover most of the established research. I think about this page as the collection of papers that a literature review on a certain topic should cite. For literature reviews and practitioner guides use tutorials-and-reviews instead. Contributions are very welcome!

Potential Outcomes

• Natural Experiments - Titiunik (2020)

• Causal Inference Using Potential Outcomes - Rubin (2005)

• Estimating Causal Effects of Treatments in Randomized and Nonrandomized Studies - Rubin (1974)

Dyrected Acyclic Graphs

• A Crash Course in Good and Bad Controls - Cinelli, Forney, Pearl (2022)

• Causal Diagrams for Empirical Research - Pearl (1995)

Experimental Methods

Conditional Average Treatment Effects

• Empirical Analysis of Model Selection for Heterogeneous Causal Effect Estimation - Mahajan, Mitliagkas, Neal, Syrgkanis (2022)

• Towards Optimal Doubly Robust Estimation of Heterogeneous Causal Effects - Kennedy (2022) [Video]

• Machine Learning Estimation of Heterogeneous Causal Effects: Empirical Monte Carlo Evidence - Knaus, Lechner, Strittmatter (2021)

• Quasi-Oracle Estimation of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects - Nie, Wager (2020)

• Adapting Neural Networks for the Estimation of Treatment Effects - Shi, Blei, Veitch (2019)

• Meta-learners for Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects using Machine Learning - Künzel, Sekhon, Bickel, Yu (2017)

• Double/Debiased Machine Learning for Treatment and Structural Parameters - Chernozhukov, Chetverikov, Demirer, Duflo, Hansen, Newey, Robins (2017) [Video]

Adaptive Experiments

• Estimation Considerations in Contextual Bandits - Dimakopoulou, Zhou, Athey, Imbens (2018)

• Causal Bandits: Learning Good Interventions via Causal Inference - Lattimore, Lattimore, Reid (2016)

• Asymptotically Efficient Adaptive Allocation Rules - Lai, Robbins (1985)

Sequential Testing

• Time-uniform, Nonparametric, Nonasymptotic Confidence Sequences - Howard, Ramdas, McAuliffe, Sekhon - (2020)

• Discrete Sequential Boundaries for Clinical Trials - Lan, DeMets (1993)

• A Multiple Testing Procedure for Clinical Trials - O’Brien, Fleming (1979)

• Group Sequential Methods in the Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials - Pocock (1977)

• Optimum Character of the Sequential Probability Ratio Test - Wald, Wolfowitz (1948)

• Sequential Tests of Statistical Hypotheses - Wald (1945)

Interference

• Exact P-values for Network Interference - Athey, Eckles, Imbens (2018)

• Estimating Average Causal Effects Under General Interference, with Application to a Social Network Experiment - Aronow, Samii (2018)

• Estimating Peer Effects in Networks with Peer Encouragement Designs - Eckles, Kizilcec, Bakshy (2016)

• On causal Inference in the Presence of Interference - Tchetgen Tchetgen, VanderWeele (2012)

• Toward Causal Inference With Interference - Hudgens, Halloran (2012)

• Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem - Manski (1996)

Interleaving

• Optimized Interleaving for Online Retrieval Evaluation - Radlinski, Craswell (2013)

• A Probabilistic Method for Inferring Preferences from Clicks - Hofmann, Whiteson, de Rijke (2011)

Quasi-experimental Methods

Unconfoundedness

• Matching on the Estimated Propensity Score - Abadie, Imbens (2016)

• Genetic matching for estimating causal effects: A general multivariate matching method for achieving balance in observational studies - Diamond, Sekhon (2013)

• Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects - Abadie, Imbens (2006)

• Nonparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Under Exogeneity: A Review - Imbens (2004)

• Efficient Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Using the Estimated Propensity Score - Hirano, Imbens, Ridder (2003)

• Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator - Heckman, Ichimura, Todd (1998)

• Reducing Bias in Observational Studies Using Subclassification on the Propensity Score - Rosenbaum, Rubin (1984)

• The Central Role of the Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects - Rosenbaum, Rubin (1983)

Panel Methods

• Synthetic Difference In Differences Estimation - Clarke, Pailañir, Athey, Imbens (2023) [Video]

• Matrix Completion Methods for Causal Panel Data Models - Athey, Bayati, Doudchenko, Imbens, Khosravi (2022)

• Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing - Goodman-Bacon (2021)

• Difference-in-differences with Multiple Time Periods - Callaway, Sant'Anna (2021)

• Two-way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects - de Chaisemartin, D'Haultfœuille (2020)

• Panel Data Models With Interactive Fixed Effects - Bai (2009)

Instrumental Variables

• Locally Robust Semiparametric Estimation - Chernozhukov, Escanciano, Ichimura, Newey, Robins (2022)

• Weak Instruments in Instrumental Variables Regression: Theory and Practice Andrews, Stock, Sun - (2019)

• Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects - Angrist, Imbens (1994)

• Identification of Causal Effects Using Instrumental Variables - Angrist, Imbens, Rubin (1993)

• Efficient Instrumental Variables Estimation of Nonlinear Models - Newey (1990)

• The Nonlinear Two-stage Least-squares Estimator - Amemiya (1974)

• The Statistical Implications of a System of Simultaneous Equations - Haavelmo (1943)

Regression Discontinuity

• Inference in Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Discrete Running Variable - Kolesár, Rothe (2018)

• Optimized Regression Discontinuity Designs - Imbens, Wager (2018)

• Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design - Hahn, Todd, Van der Klaauw (2001)

Inference

• When Should You Adjust Standard Errors for Clustering? - Abadie, Athey, Imbens, Wooldridge (2023)

• Sampling-Based versus Design-Based Uncertainty in Regression Analysis - Abadie, Athey, Imbens, Wooldridge (2020)

• Robust Standard Errors in Small Samples: Some Practical Advice - Imbens, Kolesár (2016)

Misc

• Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments - Bojinov, Simchi-Levi, Zhao (2022)

• Policy Learning with Observational Data - Athey, Wager (2020)

• Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Causal Inference in Observational Studies - Schuler, Rose (2017)

• Targeted Maximum Likelihood Learning - van der Laan, Rubin (2006)

• Identifiability and Exchangeability for Direct and Indirect Effects - Robins, Greenland (1993)