Reprise of causal effects vs. probabilistic conditioning. "Why think, when you can do the experiment?" Experimentation by controlling everything (Galileo) and by randomizing (Fisher). Confounding and identifiability. The back-door criterion for identifying causal effects: condition on covariates which block undesired paths. The front-door criterion for identification: find isolated and exhaustive causal mechanisms. Deciding how many black boxes to open up. Instrumental variables for identification: finding some exogenous source of variation and tracing its effects. Critique of instrumental variables: vital role of theory, its fragility, consequences of weak instruments. Irremovable confounding: an example with the detection of social influence; the possibility of bounding unidentifiable effects. Matching and propensity scores as computational short-cuts in back-door adjustment. Summary recommendations for identifying and estimating causal effects.
Posted at April 21, 2011 12:03 | permanent link