HNCI: High-Dimensional Network Causal Inference

TL;DR

This paper introduces HNCI, a novel high-dimensional causal inference method for network interference, providing valid confidence intervals for treatment effects and neighborhood sizes with theoretical guarantees and practical demonstrations.

Contribution

The paper develops a new high-dimensional network causal inference approach that offers valid confidence intervals and sets for treatment effects and interference neighborhood sizes.

Findings

Valid confidence intervals for ADET established

Confidence set for neighborhood size provided

Method demonstrated effective in simulations and real data

Abstract

The problem of evaluating the effectiveness of a treatment or policy commonly appears in causal inference applications under network interference. In this paper, we suggest the new method of high-dimensional network causal inference (HNCI) that provides both valid confidence interval on the average direct treatment effect on the treated (ADET) and valid confidence set for the neighborhood size for interference effect. We exploit the model setting in Belloni et al. (2022) and allow certain type of heterogeneity in node interference neighborhood sizes. We propose a linear regression formulation of potential outcomes, where the regression coefficients correspond to the underlying true interference function values of nodes and exhibit a latent homogeneous structure. Such a formulation allows us to leverage existing literature from linear regression and homogeneity pursuit to conduct valid statistical inferences with theoretical guarantees. The resulting confidence intervals for the ADET are formally justified through asymptotic normalities with estimable variances. We further provide the confidence set for the neighborhood size with theoretical guarantees exploiting the repro samples approach. The practical utilities of the newly suggested methods are demonstrated through simulation and real data examples.