This paper examines a natural experiment in which students at a large state university were randomly assigned roommates through a lottery system. We find that on average, males assigned to roommates who reported drinking in the year prior to entering college had one quarter-point lower GPA than those assigned to non-drinking roommates. The 10th percentile of their college GPA is half a point lower than among males assigned non-drinking roommates. For males who themselves drank frequently prior to college, assignment to a roommate who drank frequently prior to college reduces GPA by two-thirds of a point. Since students who drink frequently are particularly influenced by frequent-drinking roommates, substance-free housing programs could potentially lower average GPA by segregating drinkers. The effect of initial assignment to a drinking roommate persists and possibly even grows over time. In contrast, students' college GPA is not influenced by roommates' high school grades, admission test scores, or family background. Females' GPAs are not affected by roommates' drinking prior to college. Overall, these findings are more consistent with models in which peers change preferences than models in which they change endowments.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
9876.
Length: Date of creation: Jul 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9876
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Samuel Bowles & Glenn C. Loury & Rajiv Sethi, 2009.
"Group Inequality,"
Economics Working Papers
0088, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science.
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