Can Achievement Peer Effect Estimates Inform Policy? A View from Inside the Black Box

Jane Fruehwirth

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2014, vol. 96, issue 3, 514-523

Abstract: Empirical studies of peer effects rely on the assumption that peer spillovers can be measured through observables. However, in the education context, many theories of peer spillovers center around unobservables, such as ability, effort, or motivation. I show that when peer effects arise from unobservables, the typical empirical specifications will not measure these effects accurately, which may help explain differences in the magnitude and even sign of peer effect estimates across studies. I also show that under reasonable assumptions, these estimates cannot be applied to determine the effects of regrouping students, a central motivation of the literature. © 2014 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Keywords: peer effects; peer spillovers; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

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