Book Image

Causal Inference and Discovery in Python

By : Aleksander Molak
4.7 (9)
Book Image

Causal Inference and Discovery in Python

4.7 (9)
By: Aleksander Molak

Overview of this book

Causal methods present unique challenges compared to traditional machine learning and statistics. Learning causality can be challenging, but it offers distinct advantages that elude a purely statistical mindset. Causal Inference and Discovery in Python helps you unlock the potential of causality. You’ll start with basic motivations behind causal thinking and a comprehensive introduction to Pearlian causal concepts, such as structural causal models, interventions, counterfactuals, and more. Each concept is accompanied by a theoretical explanation and a set of practical exercises with Python code. Next, you’ll dive into the world of causal effect estimation, consistently progressing towards modern machine learning methods. Step-by-step, you’ll discover Python causal ecosystem and harness the power of cutting-edge algorithms. You’ll further explore the mechanics of how “causes leave traces” and compare the main families of causal discovery algorithms. The final chapter gives you a broad outlook into the future of causal AI where we examine challenges and opportunities and provide you with a comprehensive list of resources to learn more. By the end of this book, you will be able to build your own models for causal inference and discovery using statistical and machine learning techniques as well as perform basic project assessment.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Causality – an Introduction
7
Part 2: Causal Inference
14
Part 3: Causal Discovery

Call me names – spurious relationships in the wild

Don’t you feel that when we talk about spurious relationships and unobserved confounding, it’s almost like we’re talking about good old friends now? Maybe they are trouble sometimes, yet they just feel so familiar it’s hard to imagine the future without them.

We will start this section with a reflection on naming conventions regarding bias/spurious relationships/confounding across the fields. In the second part of the section, we’ll discuss selection bias as a special subtype of spuriousness that plays an important role in epidemiology.

Names, names, names

Oh boy! Reading about causality across domains can be a confusing experience! Some authors suggest using the term confounding only when there’s a common cause of the treatment and the outcome (Peters et al., 2017, p. 172; Hernán & Robins, 2020, p. 103); others allow using this term also in other cases of spuriousness...