The Mediation Formula: A Guide to the Assessment of Causal Pathways in Nonlinear Models

What is it about?

Investigators are often interested in assessing how a treatment (X) transmits its effect to the outcome (Y) or, more specifically, the extent to which the effect of X on Y can be attributed to some intermediate variable Z standing between the two. This paper introduces an estimator, called Mediation Formula, which is applicable to nonlinear models with both discrete and continuous variables, and permits the evaluation of path-specific effects with minimal assumptions regarding the data-generating process.

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