arXiv AI

Partial Identification under Causal Orders by Linear Programming

The paper presents a method for partially identifying counterfactual queries without requiring a fully specified causal graph. By exploiting the topological ordering implied by the query itself, the authors transform the identification problem into a linear programming task, enabling bounds on arbitrary counterfactual and nested counterfactual queries. They demonstrate the tightness of these bounds and illustrate the approach on several case studies, showing its usefulness even when causal knowledge is incomplete.

arXiv AI
Aug 24

Foundation Models for Partial Causal Identification

The paper introduces causal foundation models that can bound the effects of interventions and counterfactuals using only observational data. It defines a canonical prior with full support over structural causal models with discrete observables, enabling the translation of counterfactual bounding into learning distributions over functions that map data and structural assumptions to causal queries. This approach extends causal foundational modelling to partially-identifiable causal effects, where unobserved confounding leads to multiple compatible values for the effect.

By Alexis Bellot, Anish Dhir
arXiv AI
Jun 19

Computational Identifiability

arXiv:2606. 19361v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Identification conditions describe the computability of a target query or parameter of interest as a function of the type and amount of information available.

By Lucius E. J. Bynum, Rajesh Ranganath, Kyunghyun Cho
arXiv AI
Sep 10

Optimal Experiments for Partial Causal Effect Identification

The paper tackles selecting a cost‑constrained set of experiments that most effectively tighten bounds on a partially identifiable causal query. It formalizes this as the NP‑hard max‑potency problem, introduces efficient graphical pruning rules to reduce the search space, and demonstrates the approach on synthetic graphs and real NHANES data to estimate the effect of physical activity on diabetes.

By Tobias Maringgele, Jalal Etesami
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 11

The observational partial order of causal structures with latent variables

The paper studies observational dominance among causal structures with latent variables, defining one structure as dominating another if it can realize all distributions that the other can over the same visible variables. It provides a full characterization of this dominance partial order for three visible variables and a partial one for four, and shows that many equivalence classes are distinguished by nontrivial inequality constraints similar to Bell or instrumental inequalities. The authors also demonstrate that constraint‑based causal discovery algorithms relying only on conditional independence are much less powerful than those incorporating nested Markov and inequality constraints.

By Marina Maciel Ansanelli, Elie Wolfe, Robert W. Spekkens
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 26

Use What You Know: Causal Foundation Models with Partial Graphs

arXiv:2602. 14972v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Estimating causal quantities traditionally relies on bespoke estimators tailored to specific assumptions.

By Arik Reuter, Anish Dhir, Cristiana Diaconu, Jake Robertson, Ole Ossen, Frank Hutter, Adrian Weller, Mark van der Wilk, Bernhard Sch\"olkopf
arXiv AI
Sep 4

Symmetries and Causality: Causal Effect Identification Beyond IID Data

The paper introduces a formal framework that uses symmetries in data to keep causal mechanisms invariant, providing a simple and general mathematical language for causal reasoning. It outlines how to describe models and queries, and presents strategies for rigorously identifying causal effects from data within this framework. The approach reproduces known results for IID data and extends causal analysis to non‑IID settings, complex queries beyond do‑ or soft‑interventions, and incorporates missing data, transfer, and robustness considerations.

By Martin Rabel, Jakob Runge
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 19

Unsupervised Causal Abstractions Discovery

arXiv:2606. 19594v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Causal abstractions formalize when a high-level structural causal model (SCM) captures the interventional behavior of a lower-level SCM.

By Th\'eo Saulus, Simon Lacoste-Julien, Dhanya Sridhar
arXiv AI
Aug 20

CausalProfiler: Generating Synthetic Benchmarks for Rigorous and Transparent Evaluation of Causal Machine Learning

CausalProfiler is a synthetic benchmark generator designed to evaluate causal machine learning (Causal ML) methods more rigorously and transparently. It randomly samples causal models, data, queries, and ground truths based on explicit design choices across observation, intervention, and counterfactual reasoning levels, providing coverage guarantees and transparent assumptions. The authors demonstrate its utility by testing several state‑of‑the‑art methods under diverse conditions, both within and outside the identification regime, highlighting the insights CausalProfiler can reveal.

By Panayiotis Panayiotou, Audrey Poinsot, Alessandro Leite, Nicolas Chesneau, Marc Schoenauer, \"Ozg\"ur \c{S}im\c{s}ek