Machine Learning and Causal Inference: Theory, Examples, and Computational Results
Description
This dissertation covers several topics in machine learning and causal inference. First, the question of “feature selection,” a common byproduct of regularized machine learning methods, is investigated theoretically in the context of treatment effect estimation. This involves a detailed review and extension of frameworks for estimating causal effects and in-depth theoretical study. Next, various computational approaches to estimating causal effects with machine learning methods are compared with these theoretical desiderata in mind. Several improvements to current methods for causal machine learning are identified and compelling angles for further study are pinpointed. Finally, a common method used for “explaining” predictions of machine learning algorithms, SHAP, is evaluated critically through a statistical lens.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2023
Agent
- Author (aut): Herren, Andrew
- Thesis advisor (ths): Hahn, P Richard
- Committee member: Kao, Ming-Hung
- Committee member: Lopes, Hedibert
- Committee member: McCulloch, Robert
- Committee member: Zhou, Shuang
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University