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

Wrapping it up

Congratulations! You just reached the end of Chapter 10.

In this chapter, we introduced four new causal estimators: DR-Learner, TMLE, DML, and Causal Forest. We used two of them on our synthetic earnings dataset, comparing their performance to the meta-learners from Chapter 9.

After that, we learned about the differences in workflows between observational and experimental data and fit six different models to the Hillstrom dataset. We discussed popular metrics used to evaluate uplift models and learned how to use confidence intervals for EconML estimators. We discussed when using machine learning models for heterogeneous treatment effects can be beneficial from an experimental point of view. Finally, we summarized the differences between different models and closed the chapter with a short discussion on counterfactual model explanations.

In the next chapter, we’ll continue our journey through the land of causal inference with machine learning, and with...