Causal Matrix Completion under Multiple Treatments via Mixed Synthetic Nearest Neighbors
Abstract
Synthetic Nearest Neighbors (SNN) provides a principled solution to causal matrix completion under missing-not-at-random (MNAR) by exploiting local low-rank structure through fully observed anchor submatrices. However, its effectiveness critically relies on sufficient data availability within each treatment level, a condition that often fails in settings with multiple or complex treatments. In this work, we propose Mixed Synthetic Nearest Neighbors (MSNN), a new entry-wise causal identification estimator that integrates information across treatment levels. We show that MSNN retains the finite-sample error bounds and asymptotic normality guarantees of SNN, while enlarging the effective sample size available for estimation. Empirical results on synthetic and real-world datasets illustrate the efficacy of the proposed approach, especially under data-scarce treatment levels.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
Statistical Methods and Inference
Recommender Systems and Techniques
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 12 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint