Uncovering Peer Effects in Social and Academic Skills&DAG;

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zarate, Roman Andres
• 署名单位: University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20210583
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 35-79
• 关键词: personality-traits; performance; empathy; intelligence; validation; confidence; assignment; inference; altruism; tracking

摘要

This paper studies the impact of adolescent peers who are central in their social network on the formation of social skills and aca-demic performance of fellow students. I conduct a novel large-scale field experiment at selective public boarding schools in Peru with two treatments: (i) more socially central versus less socially central peers, and (ii) higher-achieving versus lower-achieving peers. Peer effects are more pronounced for social skills than academic perfor-mance, and both vary by gender. While socially central peers lead boys to better social skills, higher-achieving peers decrease girls' test scores. Gender differences in self-confidence can explain both findings.(JEL C93, I21, I26, J13, J16, O15, Z13)