Difference between decomposition and mediation

[Yusuke Matsuyama]

Hello Statalists,

I am wondering about the difference between decomposition analyses and causal mediation analyses.
What is the difference between these methods?
In my understanding, mediators in medication analyses should be in causal path, on the other hand, factors in decomposition analyses do not have to be in causal path, is this correct?

Best,
Yusuke

[Maarten Buis]

That depends on what you mean with a decomposition analysis. Terminology is not standardized in Statistics, so the same name can and is used for many different types of analysis.