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What drives ability peer effects?

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  • Coveney, Max
  • Oosterveen, Matthijs

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Coveney, Max & Oosterveen, Matthijs, 2021. "What drives ability peer effects?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:136:y:2021:i:c:s0014292121001161
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103763
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    3. Xiaoxu Zhang & Xinyu Du, 2023. "Industry and Regional Peer Effects in Corporate Digital Transformation: The Moderating Effects of TMT Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo & Dunia López-Pintado, 2023. "The uneven effects of peers on collaborative and individual tasks," Working Papers 23.07, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peer effects; Channels; Social interaction; Higher education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities

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