# A Survey on Federated Causal Discovery and Inference

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.23741 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.23741/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Causal reasoning in LLMs, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 58 of its 125 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Jun 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Causal reasoning in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/lr/causal-reasoning-in-llms/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 58)

- [Federated Optimization in Heterogeneous Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06127/) (2018)
- [Deep Learning with Differential Privacy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.00133/) (2016)
- [A Survey on Bias and Fairness in Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.09635/) (2019)
- [Deep Leakage from Gradients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.08935/) (2019)
- [Tackling the Objective Inconsistency Problem in Heterogeneous Federated Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.07481/) (2020)
- [Counterfactual Fairness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.06856/) (2017)
- [DAGs with NO TEARS: Continuous Optimization for Structure Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.01422/) (2018)
- [signSGD: Compressed Optimisation for Non-Convex Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.04434/) (2018)
- [Federated Learning on Non-IID Data Silos: An Experimental Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02079/) (2021)
- [Meta-learners for Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects using Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03461/) (2017)
- [Robust and Communication-Efficient Federated Learning from Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.02891/) (2019)
- [A Survey on Federated Learning Systems: Vision, Hype and Reality for Data Privacy and Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.09693/) (2019)
- [Causal Reasoning and Large Language Models: Opening a New Frontier for Causality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.00050/) (2023)
- [Gradient-Based Neural DAG Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02226/) (2019)
- [Learning Sparse Nonparametric DAGs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.13189/) (2019)
- [DYNOTEARS: Structure Learning from Time-Series Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.00498/) (2020)
- [FedKD: Communication Efficient Federated Learning via Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13323/) (2021)
- [A Survey on Homomorphic Encryption Schemes: Theory and Implementation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.03578/) (2017)
- [Fair Inference On Outcomes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.10378/) (2017)
- [Causal Intervention for Leveraging Popularity Bias in Recommendation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.06067/) (2021)
- [Vertical Federated Learning: Concepts, Advances and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.12814/) (2022)
- [CLadder: Assessing Causal Reasoning in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.04350/) (2023)
- [DENSE: Data-Free One-Shot Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.12371/) (2021)
- [Communication-Efficient Adaptive Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.02719/) (2022)
- [Deconfounded Recommendation for Alleviating Bias Amplification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.10648/) (2021)
- [High-dimensional consistency in score-based and hybrid structure learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.02608/) (2015)
- [The State of Applied Econometrics - Causality and Policy Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.00699/) (2016)
- [Towards Federated Bayesian Network Structure Learning with Continuous Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.09356/) (2021)
- [Federated Causal Inference in Heterogeneous Observational Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.11732/) (2021)
- [An Adaptive Kernel Approach to Federated Learning of Heterogeneous Causal Effects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.00346/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Causal reasoning, which encompasses the discovery of causal structures and the inference of causal effects, is fundamental to data-driven decision making. In practice, data for reliable causal analysis are often distributed across institutions and cannot be centralized due to privacy regulations or communication constraints. Federated learning (FL) addresses this by enabling collaborative analysis without raw data sharing, giving rise to the rapidly growing field of federated causal discovery (FCD) and inference (FCI). However, the interdisciplinary nature of this field and the absence of a comprehensive survey present barriers to entry for researchers. This paper bridges that gap by providing a systematic review through multi-dimensional taxonomies. Grounded in the three core design decisions underlying any FCD solution, namely how structures are learned, how data are partitioned, and what structural knowledge each party obtains, we organize FCD along three axes: methodological paradigm, federation topology, and structural scope. We further examine key practical dimensions, including temporal dynamics, data heterogeneity, missing data, and non-identical variable sets. For FCI, we categorize methods by target estimand (average versus individualized/conditional treatment effects) and by estimation strategy, from classical weighting methods to modern deep generative architectures. Unlike prior works that treat FCD and FCI separately, we formalize their connection as complementary stages of a unified federated causal reasoning pipeline, where FCD supplies the structural knowledge required for valid effect estimation in FCI. Finally, we highlight their shared concerns regarding privacy, communication efficiency, theoretical guarantees, and application domains, and conclude by identifying open challenges for future research.