CAUSAL INFERENCE IN STATISTICS

A Primer

Causality is central to the understanding and use of data. Without an understanding of cause-effect relationships, we cannot use data to answer questions as basic as "Does this treatment harm or help patients?" But though hundreds of introductory texts are available on statistical methods of data analysis, until now, no beginner-level book has been written about the exploding arsenal of methods that can tease causal information from data.

Causal Inference in Statistics fills that gap. Using simple examples and plain language, the book lays out how to define causal parameters; the assumptions necessary to estimate causal parameters in a variety of situations; how to express those assumptions mathematically; whether those assumptions have testable implications; how to predict the effects of interventions; and how to reason counterfactually. These are the foundational tools that any student of statistics needs to acquire in order to use statistical methods to answer causal questions of interest.

This book is accessible to anyone with an interest in interpreting data, from undergraduates, professors, researchers, or to the interested layperson. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of fields, including medicine, public policy, and law; a brief introduction to probability and statistics is provided for the uninitiated; and each chapter comes with study questions to reinforce the readers understanding.

About the Author

Judea Pearl, Computer Science and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Madelyn Glymour, Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

Nicholas P. Jewell, Biostatistics and Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Reviews

"Despite the fact that quite a few high-quality books on the topic of causal inference have recently been published, this book clearly fills an important gap: that of providing a simple and clear primer...Use of counterfactuals [in the final chapter] is elegantly linked to the structural causal models outlined in the previous chapters...[while]intriguing examples are used to introduce and illustrate the main concepts and methods...Several thought provoking study questions, in the form of exercises, are given throughout the presentation, and they can be very helpful for a better understanding of the material and looking further into the subtleties of the concepts introduced. In summary, there is no doubt that a discussion of the basic ideas in causal inference should be included in all introductory courses of statistics. This book could serve as a very useful companion to the lectures." (Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet April 2017)

Book Information
ISBN 9781119186847
Author Judea Pearl
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint John Wiley & Sons Inc
Publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc
Weight(grams) 227g
Dimensions(mm) 239mm * 168mm * 18mm