Working Paper Series, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University
No 8/2007:
Estimating Peer Effects in Swedish High School using School, Teacher, and Student Fixed Effects
Krister Sund ()
Abstract: In this paper I use a rich dataset in order to observe
each student over time in different subjects and courses. Unlike most peer
studies, I identify the peers and the teachers that each student has had in
every classroom. This enables me to handle the simultaneity and selection
problems, which are inherent in estimating peer effects in the educational
production function. I use a value-added approach with lagged peer
achievement to avoid simultaneity and extensive fixed effects to rule out
selection. To be specific, it is within-student across-subject variation
with additional controls for time-invariant teacher characteristics that is
exploited. Moreover, I identify students that are attending classes in
which they have no peers from earlier education which otherwise could bias
the result. I find positive peer effects for the average student but also
that there is a non-linear dimension. Lower-achieving students benefit more
from an increase in both mean peer achievement and the spread in peer
achievement within the classroom than their higher-achieving peers.
Keywords: Economics of education; Peer effects; (follow links to similar papers)
28 pages, May 7, 2007
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