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Peers, neighborhoods and immigrant student achievement - evidence from a placement policy

Author

Listed:
  • Olof Åslund

    (IFAU & Uppsala University)

  • Per-Anders Edin

    (IFAU & Uppsala University)

  • Peter Fredriksson

    (Stockholm University)

  • Hans Grönqvist

    (SOFI, Stockholm University)

Abstract

We examine to what extent immigrant school performance is affected by the characteristics of the neighborhoods that they grow up in. We address this issue using a refugee placement policy which provides exogenous variation in the initial place of residence in Sweden. The main result is that school performance is increasing in the number of highly educated adults sharing the subject’s ethnicity. A standard deviation increase in the fraction of high-educated in the assigned neighborhood raises compulsory school GPA by 0.9 percentile ranks. This magnitude corresponds to a tenth of the performance gap between refugee immigrant and native-born children.

Suggested Citation

  • Olof Åslund & Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Hans Grönqvist, 2010. "Peers, neighborhoods and immigrant student achievement - evidence from a placement policy," Working Papers 2010/19, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    • Handle: RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2010-19
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peer effects; ethnic enclaves; immigration; school performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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