Utilizing spatial autoregressive models to identify peer effects among adolescents

Xu Lin ()

Empirical Economics, 2015, vol. 49, issue 3, 929-960

Abstract: This study analyzes peer influences in a variety of adolescent developmental outcomes and explores the robustness of the results with regard to alternative specifications of the interaction matrix and the model. I employ the spatial autoregressive (SAR) model with group fixed effects in Lee et al. (Econom J 13(2):145–176, 2010 ) to separately identify endogenous, contextual, and correlated effects. I find evidence for both endogenous and contextual effects for all outcomes under consideration, even after controlling for confounding effects. I also find that a simple spatial weights matrix with equal weight among friends will serve the estimation purpose satisfactorily for the standard SAR model with a single row-normalized weighting matrix. The results are sensitive to the friendship reciprocity assumption as well as alternative model specifications. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Keywords: Peer effect; Spatial autoregressive; Friendship network; Heterogeneity; C21; I21; J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00181-014-0897-4

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