YXYang XiaoResearch evidence
Website Dataset

Follow the question. Examine the evidence.

My research in economics and quantitative finance, with the method, finding, and supporting results together.

SEMI-SYNTHETIC · KNOWN-TRUTH VALIDATIONPredeclared recovery audit
Question

Who should get the offer?

Result0.0417known-truth HTE RMSE
Method

I test effect estimates against known answers, then compare spending rules at the same budget in simulated markets held out from training.

Finding

The complex targeting model has not earned its advantage. The learner misses the recovery benchmark. In the budget experiment, a uniform allocation also produces more incremental trips than the model-based rule.

Limit

Semi-synthetic validation, not a measured effect of a real NYC promotion. The oracle knows the true average effect; it is a test benchmark, not a deployable policy.

The model misses the simple benchmark

Effect-estimation error · lower is better

The model misses the simple benchmark

What this shows. The targeting model has more error than a constant benchmark that knows the true average effect. This test does not support a claim that the model reliably identifies who benefits more.

View exact values & source
EstimatorRMSE
Targeting model0.0417
Constant oracle0.0247

Source: CasualLab/artifacts/benchmarks/heterogeneity/hte_recovery.json

Download figure (SVG)

Equal budgets, no targeting advantage

Incremental trips · eight held-out simulated markets

Equal budgets, no targeting advantage

What this shows. With a budget of 1,000 in each market, the model-based policy averages 64.50 extra trips versus 68.50 for uniform allocation. These are simulated policy outcomes, not field-experiment estimates.

View exact values & source
Allocation ruleMean incremental trips
Model-based64.49589085777113
Random65.5022313812971
Rule-based66.08454126083961
Uniform68.49668956342123

Source: CasualLab/artifacts/benchmarks/policy_results.csv

Download figure (SVG)
Explore metrics and individual scenarios
Loading published evidence…

The learner improves on the naïve baseline but not on the oracle benchmark.

Read chart as a table