Robustness of Causal Claims

A causal claim is any assertion that invokes causal relationships between variables, for example, that a drug has a certain e ect on preventing a disease. Causal claims are established through a combination of data and a set of causal assumptions called a \causal model." A claim is robust when it is insensitive to violations of some of the causal assumptions embodied in the model. This paper gives a formal de nition of this notion of robustness, and establishes a graphical condition for quantifying the degree of robustness of a given causal claim. Algorithms for computing the degree of robustness are also presented.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: UAI
• Authors: Judea Pearl
• Keywords: Causal, Causal Assumptions, Causal Claim, UAI 2004, UAI 2008