A robustness test for estimating total effects with covariate adjustment

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Suppose we want to estimate a total effect with covariate adjustment in a linear structural equation model. We have a causal graph to decide what covariates to adjust for, but are uncertain about the graph. Here, we propose a testing procedure, that exploits the fact that there are multiple valid adjustment sets for the target total effect in the causal graph, to perform a robustness check on the graph. If the test rejects, it is a strong indication that we should not rely on the graph. We discuss what mistakes in the graph our testing procedure can detect and which ones it cannot and develop two strategies on how to select a list of valid adjustment sets for the procedure. We also connect our result to the related econometrics literature on coefficient stability tests
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence
PublisherPMLR
Publication date2022
Edition1
Pages1886-1895
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Event38th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI 2022) - Eindhoven, Netherlands
Duration: 1 Aug 20225 Aug 2022

Conference

Conference38th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI 2022)
LandNetherlands
ByEindhoven
Periode01/08/202205/08/2022
SeriesProceedings of Machine Learning Research
Volume180
ISSN1938-7228

ID: 334858619