Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Latent Variable Structural Equation Models: A Neural Network Approach

Saremi, Mehrzad

arXiv.org Machine Learning 

We propose a graphical structure for structural equation models that is stable under marginalization under linearity and Gaussianity assumptions. We show that computing the maximum likelihood estimation of this model is equivalent to training a neural network. We implement a GPU-based algorithm that computes the maximum likelihood estimation of these models.