提出可计算反事实的标准化模型,让因果推断更可信
Canonical Representations of Markovian Structural Causal Models: A Framework for Counterfactual Reasoning
- 用带预设边缘分布的随机过程表示反事实假设
- 分离不可验证的反事实选择与可检验的干预约束
- 适合研究个体公平性或需要精细因果推断的场景
反事实推理旨在回答如“若爱丽丝服用了阿司匹林,她是否会康复?”这类反事实问题,属于因果关系中最精细的层次。尽管许多反事实陈述无法通过随机实验验证,但它们支撑着个体公平性等核心概念。在佩尔因果框架的马尔可夫设定下,本文提出一种替代结构因果模型的方法,用于表示与给定因果图模型相容的反事实。具体而言,引入反事实模型,也称为结构因果模型的标准化表示。该方法允许通过预设边缘分布的随机过程来选择反事实假设,并刻画结构因果模型的反事实等价类。利用这些表示,我们提出一种归一化程序,将任意且不可验证的反事实选择与通常可检验的干预约束分离开来。相比传统结构因果模型,该方法可在保留干预知识的前提下实现多种反事实假设,且无需在个体反事实层进行估计——仅需做出选择。最后,通过理论和数值例子展示了反事实在因果推断中的关键作用及本方法的优势。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Counterfactual reasoning aims at answering contrary-to-fact questions like ``Would have Alice recovered had she taken aspirin?'' and corresponds to the most fine-grained layer of causation. Critically, while many counterfactual statements cannot be falsified-even by randomized experiments-they underpin fundamental concepts like individual-wise fairness. Therefore, providing models to formalize and implement counterfactual beliefs remains a fundamental scientific problem. In the Markovian setting of Pearl's causal framework, we propose an alternative approach to structural causal models to represent counterfactuals compatible with a given causal graphical model. More precisely, we introduce counterfactual models, also called canonical representations of structural causal models. They enable analysts to choose a counterfactual assumption via random-process probability distributions with preassigned marginals and characterize the counterfactual equivalence class of structural causal models. Using these representations, we present a normalization procedure to disentangle the (arbitrary and unfalsifiable) counterfactual choice from the (typically testable) interventional constraints. In contrast to structural causal models, this allows to implement many counterfactual assumptions while preserving interventional knowledge, and does not require any estimation step at the individual-counterfactual layer: only to make a choice. Finally, we illustrate the specific role of counterfactuals in causality and the benefits of our approach on theoretical and numerical examples.
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