Good Peers Have Asymmetric Gendered Effects on Female Educational Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Mexico

Matias Busso and Veronica Frisancho

No 11220, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: This study examines the gendered effects of early and sustained exposure to high-performing peers on female educational trajectories. Exploiting random allocation to classrooms within middle schools, we measure the effect of male and female high performers on girls' high school placement outcomes. We disentangle two channels through which peers of either sex can play a role: academic performance and school preferences. We also focus on the effects of peers along the distribution of baseline academic performance. Exposure to good peers of either sex reduces the degree to which high-achieving girls seek placement in more-selective schools. High-achieving boys have particularly strong, negative effects on high-performing girls' admission scores and preferences for more-selective schools. By contrast, high-achieving girls improve low-performing girls' placement outcomes, but exclusively through a positive effect on exam scores.

Keywords: gender; Mexico; secondary education; Peer effects; High achievers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I21 I24 J16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-exp and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Journal Article: Good peers have asymmetric gendered effects on female educational outcomes: Experimental evidence from Mexico (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:11220

DOI: 10.18235/0003247

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