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Average direct and indirect causal effects under interference
[Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment]

Author

Listed:
  • Yuchen Hu
  • Shuangning Li
  • Stefan Wager

Abstract

SummaryWe propose a definition for the average indirect effect of a binary treatment in the potential outcomes model for causal inference under cross-unit interference. Our definition is analogous to the standard definition of the average direct effect and can be expressed without needing to compare outcomes across multiple randomized experiments. We show that the proposed indirect effect satisfies a decomposition theorem stating that in a Bernoulli trial, the sum of the average direct and indirect effects always corresponds to the effect of a policy intervention that infinitesimally increases treatment probabilities. We also consider a number of parametric models for interference and find that our nonparametric indirect effect remains a natural estimand when re-expressed in the context of these models.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuchen Hu & Shuangning Li & Stefan Wager, 2022. "Average direct and indirect causal effects under interference [Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment]," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 109(4), pages 1165-1172.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:biomet:v:109:y:2022:i:4:p:1165-1172.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/biomet/asac008
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yi Zhang & Kosuke Imai, 2023. "Individualized Policy Evaluation and Learning under Clustered Network Interference," Papers 2311.02467, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    2. Li, Ting & Shi, Chengchun & Lu, Zhaohua & Li, Yi & Zhu, Hongtu, 2024. "Evaluating dynamic conditional quantile treatment effects with applications in ridesharing," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122488, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Luofeng Liao & Christian Kroer, 2024. "Statistical Inference and A/B Testing in Fisher Markets and Paced Auctions," Papers 2406.15522, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    4. Luofeng Liao & Christian Kroer, 2023. "Statistical Inference and A/B Testing for First-Price Pacing Equilibria," Papers 2301.02276, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    5. Haoge Chang, 2023. "Design-based Estimation Theory for Complex Experiments," Papers 2311.06891, arXiv.org.
    6. Eric Auerbach & Yong Cai & Ahnaf Rafi, 2024. "Regression Discontinuity Design with Spillovers," Papers 2404.06471, arXiv.org.
    7. Christopher Harshaw & Fredrik Savje & Yitan Wang, 2022. "A Design-Based Riesz Representation Framework for Randomized Experiments," Papers 2210.08698, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    8. Yuehao Bai & Azeem M. Shaikh & Max Tabord-Meehan, 2024. "A Primer on the Analysis of Randomized Experiments and a Survey of some Recent Advances," Papers 2405.03910, arXiv.org.
    9. Cyrus Samii & Ye Wang & Jonathan Sullivan & P. M. Aronow, 2023. "Inference in Spatial Experiments with Interference using the SpatialEffect Package," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 28(1), pages 138-156, March.

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