Venue: ICLR 2023 TinyPapers

Reviews:

final_score: rating: Clear, Correct, and Reproducible (CCR): a submission which meets the reviewing criteria
review_content: summary_of_contributions: The authors in this paper proposes that under specific conditions, the synthetic control weights csn be treated as balancing scores.
strengths_and_weaknesses: Strengths
* The paper is well-written and well-structured. The author perfectly sets up the mathematical formulation of the problem and uses figures to help the reader to digest the content.

Weakness
* The author does not discuss the practical implications of the assumptions and the conclusion of this paper.
* The section titles are not numbered.
suggested_changes: * The author should discuss the practical implications of the assumptions and the conclusion of this paper.
* The section titles should be numbered.
review_title: null

final_score: rating: Clear, Correct, and Reproducible (CCR): a submission which meets the reviewing criteria
review_content: summary_of_contributions: Synthetic control and balancing score methods are techniques used for estimating the causal effect of a treatment. In this work, the author demonstrates that, under certain assumptions, synthetic control weights can be interpreted as balancing scores.
strengths_and_weaknesses: - **Strengths**
    - The paper is well-written and well-structured, with appropriate references. The section on synthetic control, including the setup, assumptions, and identification, is particularly strong and provides the reader with a clear understanding of the mathematical foundations. The mathematical background is supported by helpful visuals, such as Figure 1a and 1b, which make the content easier to digest for the reader.
    - The author's research presents a compelling connection between two methods by showing how synthetic control weights can be viewed as balancing scores
    - The assumption of having knowledge of the oracle weights serves to reinforce the Synthetic Control assumptions and identification.
- **Weakness**
    - I would encourage the author to provide more details on the scenarios in which synthetic control weights cannot be interpreted as balancing scores, along with the relevant assumptions and a mathematical foundation for these cases. Such an expansion would enable other researchers to build on this work.
suggested_changes: I suggest that the "Synthetic Control: Setup, Assumptions and Identification" section be structured under a new section titled "Methods" section, for better readability.
review_title: null

Decision: Invite to present