[Statlist] Next talks: July 2 and July 4, 2012 from 10.00h-12.00h in G 19.1

[Cecilia Rey]

Announcement

FIM Minicourse on Causal Graphical Models and Counterfactuals
  by Thomas Richardson, University of Washington

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Monday, July 2, 2012 and Wednesday 4, 2012,
10.00h - 12.00h , HG G 19.1

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Absract:
In this series of lectures we will first introduce the potential  
outcome approach to causal models. We will then introduce multivariate  
statistical models based on Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs), reviewing  
their basic Markov properties. We will then provide a causal  
interpretation for DAGs in terms of potential outcomes, relating this  
to the back-door formula and more generally, the do-calculus of Pearl.

We will then consider two problems that arise in the context of a DAG  
model when we only observe a marginal distribution. First we consider  
the non-parametric dentification of causal effects, and describe a  
simple complete algorithm for this problem. Second, we will describe a  
general class of non-parametric constraints that are implied to hold  
in the observed marginal distribution, which we call the nested Markov  
property. We will describe parameterizations of some of the related  
statistical models.

Finally, time permitting, we will describe approaches that have been  
proposed for dropping the assumption of acyclicity, describing some of  
the practical and theoretical obstacles.

Prerequisites: Some basic familiarity with statistical problems.


The abstract is also to be found here:  http://stat.ethz.ch/events/research_seminar



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