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Everybody Needs Good Neighbours? Evidence from Students' Outcomes in England

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Gibbons, Steve

    ()

    (London School of Economics)

  • Silva, Olmo

    ()

    (London School of Economics)

  • Weinhardt, Felix

    ()

    (Humboldt University Berlin, DIW)

Abstract

We estimate the effect of neighbours' characteristics and prior achievements on teenage students' educational and behavioural outcomes using census data on several cohorts of secondary school students in England. Our research design is based on changes in neighbourhood composition caused explicitly by residential migration amongst students in our dataset. The longitudinal nature and detail of the data allows us to control for student unobserved characteristics, neighbourhood fixed effects and time trends, school-by-cohort fixed effects, as well as students' observable attributes and prior attainments. The institutional setting also allows us to distinguish between neighbours who attend the same or different schools, and thus examine interactions between school and neighbourhood peers. Overall, our results provide evidence that peers in the neighbourhood have no effect on test scores, but have a small effect on behavioural outcomes, such as attitudes towards schooling and anti-social behaviour.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 5980.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2011
Publication status: published in: Economic Journal, 2013, 123 (571), 831-874
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5980
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Keywords: secondary schools; cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes; peer and neighbourhood effects;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
  • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
  • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
  • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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  1. Anne Bolster & Simon Burgess & Ron Johnston & Kelvyn Jones & Carol Propper & Rebecca Sarker, 2007. "Neighbourhoods, households and income dynamics: a semi-parametric investigation of neighbourhood effects," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-38, January.
  2. Sandra E. Black, 1999. "Do Better Schools Matter? Parental Valuation of Elementary Education," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(2), pages 577-599.
  3. Edin, P.-A. & Fredriksson, P. & Aslund, O., 2000. "Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Papers 2000-21, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
  4. Olof Åslund & Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Hans Grönqvist, 2011. "Peers, Neighborhoods, and Immigrant Student Achievement: Evidence from a Placement Policy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 67-95, April.
  5. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2011. "Mechanisms and Impacts of Gender Peer Effects at School," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 1-33, April.
  6. Daniel Aaronson, 1998. "Using Sibling Data to Estimate the Impact of Neighborhoods on Children's Educational Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(4), pages 915-946.
  7. Dominique Goux & Eric Maurin, 2007. "Close Neighbours Matter: Neighbourhood Effects on Early Performance at School," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1193-1215, October.
  8. Lisa Sanbonmatsu & Jeffrey R. Kling & Greg J. Duncan & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2006. "Neighborhoods and Academic Achievement: Results from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
  9. Gibbons, Stephen & Machin, Stephen & Silva, Olmo, 2013. "Valuing school quality using boundary discontinuities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 15-28.
  10. Eric D. Gould & Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman, 2004. "Immigrating to Opportunity: Estimating the Effect of School Quality Using a Natural Experiment on Ethiopians in Israel," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 119(2), pages 489-526.
  11. Eric D. Gould & Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman, 2011. "Sixty Years after the Magic Carpet Ride: The Long-Run Effect of the Early Childhood Environment on Social and Economic Outcomes," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 938-973.
  12. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Tomas Key, 2010. "Choosing secondary school by moving house: school quality and the formation of neighbourhoods," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 10/238, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
  13. Steve Gibbons & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2008. "Peers and Achievement in England's Secondary Schools," SERC Discussion Papers 0001, Spatial Economics Research Centre, LSE.
  14. Felix Weinhardt, 2010. "Moving into the Projects: Social Housing Neighbourhoods and School Performance in England," SERC Discussion Papers 0044, Spatial Economics Research Centre, LSE.
  15. John F. Kain & John M. Quigley, 1975. "Housing Markets and Racial Discrimination: A Microeconomic Analysis," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kain75-1.
  16. Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman & Analia Schlosser, 2008. "Inside the Black of Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom," NBER Working Papers 14415, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Caroline Hoxby, 2000. "Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation," NBER Working Papers 7867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  18. Olof Åslund & Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Hans Grönqvist, 2011. "Peers, Neighborhoods, and Immigrant Student Achievement: Evidence from a Placement Policy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 67-95, April.
  19. Cheshire, Paul & Sheppard, Stephen, 1995. "On the Price of Land and the Value of Amenities," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 62(246), pages 247-267, May.
  20. Stephen Gibbons & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2007. "Mobility and school disruption," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19384, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  21. David J. Harding & Lisa Gennetian & Christopher Winship & Lisa Sanbonmatsu & Jeffrey R. Kling, 2010. "Unpacking Neighborhood Influences on Education Outcomes: Setting the Stage for Future Research," NBER Working Papers 16055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  22. Victor Lavy & Olmo Silva & Felix Weinhardt, 2012. "The Good, the Bad, and the Average: Evidence on Ability Peer Effects in Schools," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 367-414.
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Cited by:

  1. Paul Bingley & Lorenzo Cappellari & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2014. "Family, Community and Long-Term Earnings Inequality," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def017, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
  2. Nicoletti, Cheti & Rabe, Birgitta, 2014. "Sibling spillover effects in school achievement," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-40, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
  3. Abigail Cooke & Thomas Kemeny, 2016. "Urban Immigrant Diversity and Inclusive Institutions," Working Papers 16-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
  4. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier.
  5. Gibbons, Steve & Overman, Henry G. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2015. "Spatial Methods," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier.
  6. Kenzo Asahi, 2014. "The Impact of Better School Accessibility on Student outcomes," SERC Discussion Papers 0156, Spatial Economics Research Centre, LSE.
  7. Weinhardt, Felix, 2014. "Social housing, neighborhood quality and student performance," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 12-31.
  8. ., 2014. "Residential segregation and people sorting within cities," Chapters,in: Urban Economics and Urban Policy, chapter 3, pages 54-76 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  9. Mendolia, Silvia & Paloyo, Alfredo R. & Walker, Ian, 2016. "Heterogeneous Effects of High School Peers on Educational Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 9795, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  10. Thomas Kemeny & Abigail Cooke, 2015. "Spillovers from immigrant diversity in cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64616, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  11. Abigail Cooke & Thomas Kemeny, 2016. "Immigrant Diversity and Complex Problem Solving," Working Papers 16-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

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