What drives ability peer effects?

Max Coveney; Matthijs Oosterveen

doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103763

What drives ability peer effects?

Max Coveney^*, Matthijs Oosterveen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the importance of one commonly proposed mechanism potentially driving ability peer effects in the classroom: peer-to-peer social interaction. At a large university, first-year students are randomly assigned to a year-long tutorial group and to one of two subgroups within their tutorial group. The university encourages social interaction within, and not between, these subgroups at the start of the year. Hence, each student can divide her tutorial peers into close and distant peers. We find spillovers on student performance originating from close peers only. Distant peers are unimportant. This implies that peer-to-peer social interactions drive peer effects.

Original language	English
Article number	103763
Journal	European Economic Review
Volume	136
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103763
Publication status	Published - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

JEL codes: I23, I28, Z13, D62

Funding Information:
The dataset used in this research is archived on the Erasmus University Rotterdam figshare portal . The authors have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. We thank Adam Booij, John Cawley, Eddy van Doorslaer, Pilar García-Gómez, Hans van Kippersluis, Edwin Leuven, Hessel Oosterbeek, Tom van Ourti, and Dinand Webbink for helpful comments and suggestions. The paper has also benefited from the comments and suggestions of participants at various seminars. Oosterveen acknowledges financial support from the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (grant PTDC/EGE-OGE/28603/2017). All omissions and errors are our own.

Funding Information:
? The dataset used in this research is archived on the Erasmus University Rotterdam figshare portal. The authors have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. We thank Adam Booij, John Cawley, Eddy van Doorslaer, Pilar Garc?a-G?mez, Hans van Kippersluis, Edwin Leuven, Hessel Oosterbeek, Tom van Ourti, and Dinand Webbink for helpful comments and suggestions. The paper has also benefited from the comments and suggestions of participants at various seminars. Oosterveen acknowledges financial support from the FCT ? Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e Tecnologia (grant PTDC/EGE-OGE/28603/2017). All omissions and errors are our own.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

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10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103763

1_s2.0_S0014292121001161_mainFinal published version, 1.32 MBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

Cite this

@article{d4f8779ff3034870a3e6fa10a99c5a99,

title = "What drives ability peer effects?",

abstract = "This paper analyzes the importance of one commonly proposed mechanism potentially driving ability peer effects in the classroom: peer-to-peer social interaction. At a large university, first-year students are randomly assigned to a year-long tutorial group and to one of two subgroups within their tutorial group. The university encourages social interaction within, and not between, these subgroups at the start of the year. Hence, each student can divide her tutorial peers into close and distant peers. We find spillovers on student performance originating from close peers only. Distant peers are unimportant. This implies that peer-to-peer social interactions drive peer effects.",

author = "Max Coveney and Matthijs Oosterveen",

note = "JEL codes: I23, I28, Z13, D62 Funding Information: The dataset used in this research is archived on the Erasmus University Rotterdam figshare portal . The authors have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. We thank Adam Booij, John Cawley, Eddy van Doorslaer, Pilar Garc{\'i}a-G{\'o}mez, Hans van Kippersluis, Edwin Leuven, Hessel Oosterbeek, Tom van Ourti, and Dinand Webbink for helpful comments and suggestions. The paper has also benefited from the comments and suggestions of participants at various seminars. Oosterveen acknowledges financial support from the FCT – Funda{\c c}{\~a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia (grant PTDC/EGE-OGE/28603/2017). All omissions and errors are our own. Funding Information: ? The dataset used in this research is archived on the Erasmus University Rotterdam figshare portal. The authors have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. We thank Adam Booij, John Cawley, Eddy van Doorslaer, Pilar Garc?a-G?mez, Hans van Kippersluis, Edwin Leuven, Hessel Oosterbeek, Tom van Ourti, and Dinand Webbink for helpful comments and suggestions. The paper has also benefited from the comments and suggestions of participants at various seminars. Oosterveen acknowledges financial support from the FCT ? Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e Tecnologia (grant PTDC/EGE-OGE/28603/2017). All omissions and errors are our own. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2021",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103763",

language = "English",

volume = "136",

journal = "European Economic Review",