Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education

Antoni Calvó-Armengol, Eleonora Patacchini and Yves Zenou

No 3859, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper studies whether structural properties of friendship networks affect individual outcomes in education. We first develop a model that shows that, at the Nash equilibrium, the outcome of each individual embedded in a network is proportional to her Katz-Bonacich centrality measure. This measure takes into account both direct and indirect friends of each individual but puts less weight to her distant friends. We then bring the model to the data by using a very detailed dataset of adolescent friendship networks. We show that, after controlling for observable individual characteristics and unobservable network specific factors, the individual's position in a network (as measured by her Katz-Bonacich centrality) is a key determinant of her level of activity. A standard deviation increase in the Katz-Bonacich centrality increases the pupil school performance by more than 7 percent of one standard deviation.

Keywords: school performance; centrality measure; peer influence; network structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 C31 C72 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2008-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab, nep-net, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (38)

Published - published in: Review of Economic Studies, 2009, 76, 1239-1267

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Related works:
Journal Article: Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education (2009)
Working Paper: Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education (2008)
Working Paper: Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education (2008)
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