Explanation in Causal Inference

Luke Keele, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Penn State University
Yes, mediation is an important topic. It has longed been used in the social sciences especially psychology. Of late there has been interest in many different fields including economics, sociology, epidemiology, political science and education, among other fields. Tyler VanderWeele is very qualified to author this book. He has contributed important work to the development of this topic and is a talented and careful researcher. I think there is potential for adoption in graduate courses in the social and biomedical sciences. I also think it could be widely purchased by applied researchers as a reference. I recommend publication.

Michael Sobel, Dept Sociology, Columbia Mediation is about understanding pathways between a treatment and an outcome that lead to the outcome, i.e., mechanisms. Mechanisms are a central thing in science and statisticians have been providing new principled methods for studying these topics over especially the last 10 years. Especially in the social and behavioral sciences and in epidemiology there has been great interest in these methods, and the methodology the author wants to write about is the new stuff from the last 10 years. [VanderWeele] is the key player in statistical literature these days. He's a good communicator Primary market: applied researchers doing mediation in epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences. Secondary market: applied statisticians teaching causal inference and/or working in the area." "

Tyler VanderWeele is an associate professor in the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University.

PART I: MEDIATION ANALYSIS ; Chapter 1. Explanation and Mechanism ; Chapter 2. Mediation: Introduction and Regression-Based Approaches ; Chapter 3. Sensitivity Analysis for Mediation ; Chapter 4. Mediation Analysis with Survival Data ; Chapter 5. Multiple Mediators ; Chapter 6. Mediation Analysis with Time-Varying Exposures and Mediators ; Chapter 7. Selected Topics in Mediation Analysis ; Chapter 8. Other Topics Related to Intermediates ; PART II: INTERACTION ANALYSIS ; Chapter 9. An Introduction to Interaction Analysis ; Chapter 10. Mechanistic Interaction ; Chapter 11. Bias Analysis for Interactions ; Chapter 12. Interaction in Genetics: Independence and Boosting Power ; Chapter 13. Power and Sample-Size Calculations for Interaction Analysis ; PART III: SYNTHESIS AND SPILLOVER EFFECTS ; Chapter 14. A Unification of Mediation and Interaction ; Chapter 15. Social Interactions and Spillover Effects ; Chapter 16. Mediation and Interaction: Future and Context ; Appendix. Technical Details and Proofs ; References