Doubly-robust inference and optimality in structure-agnostic models with smoothness

Abstract: We study the problem of constructing an estimator of the average treatment effect (ATE) with observational data. The celebrated doubly-robust, augmented-IPW (AIPW) estimator generally requires consistent estimation of both nuisance functions for standard root-n inference, and moreover that the product of the errors of the nuisances should shrink at a rate faster than $n^{-1/2}$. A recent strand of research has aimed to understand the extent to which the AIPW estimator can be improved upon (in a minimax sense). Under structural assumptions on the nuisance functions, the AIPW estimator is typically not minimax-optimal, and improvements can be made using higher-order influence functions (Robins et al, 2017). Conversely, without any assumptions on the nuisances beyond the mean-square-error rates at which they can be estimated, the rate achieved by the AIPW estimator is already optimal (Balakrishnan et al, 2023; Jin and Syrgkanis, 2024). We make three main contributions. First, we propose a new hybrid class of distributions that combine structural agnosticism regarding the nuisance function space with additional smoothness constraints. Second, we calculate minimax lower bounds for estimating the ATE in the new class, as well as in the pure structure-agnostic one. Third, we propose a new estimator of the ATE that enjoys doubly-robust asymptotic linearity; it can yield asymptotically valid Wald-type confidence intervals even when the propensity score or the outcome model is inconsistently estimated, or estimated at a slow rate. Under certain conditions, we show that its rate of convergence in the new class can be much faster than that achieved by the AIPW estimator and, in particular, matches the minimax lower bound rate, thereby establishing its optimality. Finally, we complement our theoretical findings with simulations.