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Malte Londschien

Publications and source records attributed to Malte Londschien.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Machine-Learning-Powered Specification Testing in Linear Instrumental Variable Models

The linear instrumental variable (IV) model is widely used in observational studies, yet its validity hinges on strong assumptions. Classical specification tests such as the Sargan-Hansen J test are limited to overidentified settings and are therefore not applicable in the common just-identified case, where the number of instruments is equal to the number of endogenous variables. We propose a novel test for the well-specification of the linear IV model under the assumption that the structural error is mean independent of the instruments. This assumption enables specification testing even in the just-identified setting. Our approach uses the idea of residual prediction: if the two-stage least squares residuals can be predicted from the instruments better than chance, this indicates misspecification. The resulting test employs sample splitting and a user-chosen machine learning method, and we show asymptotic type I error control and consistency against a broad class of alternatives. We further show how the proposed testing principle can be adapted to settings with weak or many instruments via an Anderson-Rubin-type inversion, thereby substantially extending the applicability. The tests accommodate heteroskedasticity- and cluster-robust inference and are implemented in the R package RPIV and the ivmodels software package for Python.

stat.ME↗
arXiv2026

Weak-instrument-robust subvector inference in instrumental variables regression: A subvector Lagrange multiplier test and properties of subvector Anderson-Rubin confidence sets

We propose a weak-instrument-robust subvector Lagrange multiplier test for instrumental variables regression. We show that it is asymptotically size-correct under a technical condition or as the number of instruments grows to infinity. This is the first weak-instrument-robust subvector test for instrumental variables regression to recover the degrees of freedom of the commonly used non-weak-instrument-robust Wald test. Additionally, we provide a closed-form solution for subvector confidence sets obtained by inverting the subvector Anderson-Rubin test. We show that they are centered around a k-class estimator. We show that the subvector confidence sets for single coefficients of the causal parameter are jointly bounded if and only if Anderson's likelihood-ratio test rejects the null hypothesis that the first-stage regression parameter is of reduced rank, that is, that the causal parameter is not identified. Finally, we show that if a confidence set obtained by inverting the Anderson-Rubin test is bounded and nonempty, it is equal to a Wald-based confidence set with a data-dependent confidence level. We explicitly compute this Wald-based confidence set and its confidence level.

math.ST↗
arXiv2026

Domain Generalization and Adaptation in Intensive Care with Anchor Regression

The performance of predictive models in clinical settings often degrades when deployed in new hospitals due to distribution shifts. This paper presents a large-scale study of causality-inspired domain generalization on heterogeneous multi-center intensive care unit (ICU) data. We apply anchor regression and introduce anchor boosting, a novel, tree-based nonlinear extension, to a large dataset comprising 400,000 patients from nine distinct ICU databases. We find that anchor regularization yields improvements of out-of-distribution performance, particularly for the most dissimilar target domains. The methods appear robust to violations of theoretical assumptions, such as anchor exogeneity. Furthermore, we propose a novel conceptual framework to quantify the utility of large external data datasets. By evaluating performance as a function of available target-domain data, we identify three regimes: (i) a domain generalization regime, where only the external model should be used, (ii) a domain adaptation regime, where refitting the external model is optimal, and (iii) a data-rich regime, where external data provides no additional value.

stat.AP↗
arXiv2025

The exact distribution of the conditional likelihood-ratio test in instrumental variables regression

We derive the exact asymptotic distribution of the conditional likelihood-ratio test in instrumental variables regression under weak instrument asymptotics and for multiple endogenous variables. The distribution is conditional on all eigenvalues of the concentration matrix, rather than only the smallest eigenvalue as in an existing asymptotic upper bound. This exact characterization leads to a substantially more powerful test if there are differently identified endogenous variables. We provide computational methods implementing the test and demonstrate the power gains through numerical analysis.

econ.EM↗
arXiv2024

Towards Foundation Models for Critical Care Time Series

Notable progress has been made in generalist medical large language models across various healthcare areas. However, large-scale modeling of in-hospital time series data - such as vital signs, lab results, and treatments in critical care - remains underexplored. Existing datasets are relatively small, but combining them can enhance patient diversity and improve model robustness. To effectively utilize these combined datasets for large-scale modeling, it is essential to address the distribution shifts caused by varying treatment policies, necessitating the harmonization of treatment variables across the different datasets. This work aims to establish a foundation for training large-scale multi-variate time series models on critical care data and to provide a benchmark for machine learning models in transfer learning across hospitals to study and address distribution shift challenges. We introduce a harmonized dataset for sequence modeling and transfer learning research, representing the first large-scale collection to include core treatment variables. Future plans involve expanding this dataset to support further advancements in transfer learning and the development of scalable, generalizable models for critical healthcare applications.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2024

WiNNbeta: Batch and drift correction method by white noise normalization for metabolomic studies

We developed a method called batch and drift correction method by White Noise Normalization (WiNNbeta) to correct individual metabolites for batch effects and drifts. This method tests for white noise properties to identify metabolites in need of correction and corrects them by using fine-tuned splines. To test the method performance we applied WiNNbeta to LC-MS data from our metabolomic studies and computed CVs before and after WiNNbeta correction in quality control samples.

stat.ME↗
arXiv2023

Random Forests for Change Point Detection

We propose a novel multivariate nonparametric multiple change point detection method using classifiers. We construct a classifier log-likelihood ratio that uses class probability predictions to compare different change point configurations. We propose a computationally feasible search method that is particularly well suited for random forests, denoted by changeforest. However, the method can be paired with any classifier that yields class probability predictions, which we illustrate by also using a k-nearest neighbor classifier. We prove that it consistently locates change points in single change point settings when paired with a consistent classifier. Our proposed method changeforest achieves improved empirical performance in an extensive simulation study compared to existing multivariate nonparametric change point detection methods. An efficient implementation of our method is made available for R, Python, and Rust users in the changeforest software package.

stat.ME↗
arXiv2020

Change point detection for graphical models in the presence of missing values

We propose estimation methods for change points in high-dimensional covariance structures with an emphasis on challenging scenarios with missing values. We advocate three imputation like methods and investigate their implications on common losses used for change point detection. We also discuss how model selection methods have to be adapted to the setting of incomplete data. The methods are compared in a simulation study and applied to a time series from an environmental monitoring system. An implementation of our proposals within the R-package hdcd is available via the Supplementary materials.

stat.ML↗