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

To get the most out of this book

The code for this book is provided in the form of Jupyter notebooks. To run the notebooks, you’ll need to install the required packages.

The easiest way to install them is using Conda. Conda is a great package manager for Python. If you don’t have Conda installed on your system, the installation instructions can be found here: https://bit.ly/InstallConda.

Note that Conda’s license might have some restrictions for commercial use. After installing Conda, follow the environment installation instructions in the book’s repository README.md file (https://bit.ly/InstallEnvironments).

If you want to recreate some of the plots from the book, you might need to additionally install Graphviz. For GPU acceleration, CUDA drivers might be needed. Instructions and requirements for Graphviz and CUDA are available in the same README.md file in the repository (https://bit.ly/InstallEnvironments).

The code for this book has been only tested on Windows 11 (64-bit).

Software/hardware covered in the book

Operating system requirements

Python 3.9

Windows, macOS, or Linux

DoWhy 0.8

Windows, macOS, or Linux

EconML 0.12.0

Windows, macOS, or Linux

CATENets 0.2.3

Windows, macOS, or Linux

gCastle 1.0.3

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Causica 0.2.0

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Causal-learn 0.1.3.3

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Transformers 4.24.0

Windows, macOS, or Linux