# Nonparametric methods for doubly robust estimation of continuous treatment effects

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.00747 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.00747/

## Key facts

- Cited by 64 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 Jul 2015.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 64)

- [A Review of Off-Policy Evaluation in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06355/) (2022)
- [Causal machine learning for predicting treatment outcomes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.08770/) (2024)
- [VCNet and Functional Targeted Regularization For Learning Causal Effects of Continuous Treatments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.07861/) (2021)
- [Causal Effect Inference for Structured Treatments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01939/) (2021)
- [Doubly Robust Causal Effect Estimation under Networked Interference via Targeted Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.03342/) (2024)
- [Partial Identification of Treatment Effects with Implicit Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08139/) (2022)
- [Doubly Robust Alignment for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01183/) (2025)
- [One-Step Estimation of Differentiable Hilbert-Valued Parameters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16711/) (2023)
- [Comparison of meta-learners for estimating multi-valued treatment heterogeneous effects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.14714/) (2022)
- [An Efficient Doubly-Robust Test for the Kernel Treatment Effect](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13237/) (2023)
- [End-to-End Balancing for Causal Continuous Treatment-Effect Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.13068/) (2021)
- [A Neural Mean Embedding Approach for Back-door and Front-door Adjustment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.06610/) (2022)
- [Probabilities of Causation for Continuous and Vector Variables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20487/) (2024)
- [Causal Machine Learning for Cost-Effective Allocation of Development Aid](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.16986/) (2024)
- [Contrastive Balancing Representation Learning for Heterogeneous Dose-Response Curves Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14232/) (2024)
- [Sequential Kernel Embedding for Mediated and Time-Varying Dose Response Curves](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.03950/) (2021)
- [Anytime-Valid Inference for Double/Debiased Machine Learning of Causal Parameters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09598/) (2024)
- [Automatic Double Machine Learning for Continuous Treatment Effects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10334/) (2021)
- [Multiply Robust Causal Mediation Analysis with Continuous Treatments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09254/) (2021)
- [Kernel methods for long term dose response curves](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05139/) (2022)
- [Meta-Learners for Estimation of Causal Effects: Finite Sample Cross-Fit Performance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.12692/) (2022)
- [Doubly Robust Proximal Causal Learning for Continuous Treatments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.12819/) (2023)
- [Estimating Long-term Heterogeneous Dose-response Curve: Generalization Bound Leveraging Optimal Transport Weights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19195/) (2024)
- [Fast Estimation of Partial Dependence Functions using Trees](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13448/) (2024)
- [Double Machine Learning for Causal Inference under Shared-State Interference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.08836/) (2025)
- [GCF: Generalized Causal Forest for Heterogeneous Treatment Effect Estimation in Online Marketplace](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10975/) (2022)
- [CausalEGM: a general causal inference framework by encoding generative modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.05925/) (2022)
- [Causal Inference with Complex Treatments: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.14022/) (2024)
- [Doubly Robust Kernel Statistics for Testing Distributional Treatment Effects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04922/) (2022)
- [Interventional Processes for Causal Uncertainty Quantification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.14483/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Continuous treatments (e.g., doses) arise often in practice, but many available causal effect estimators are limited by either requiring parametric models for the effect curve, or by not allowing doubly robust covariate adjustment. We develop a novel kernel smoothing approach that requires only mild smoothness assumptions on the effect curve, and still allows for misspecification of either the treatment density or outcome regression. We derive asymptotic properties and give a procedure for data-driven bandwidth selection. The methods are illustrated via simulation and in a study of the effect of nurse staffing on hospital readmissions penalties.
