Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/266947 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] EconomiA [ISSN:] 1517-7580 [Volume:] 21 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Elsevier [Place:] Amsterdam [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 18-37
Publisher: 
Elsevier, Amsterdam
Abstract: 
This paper evaluates the diffusion of peer effects on academic achievement of 4th grade students in the Brazilian public school system. Using data from Prova Brasil 2013, the identification strategy builds on the use of an IV approach, in which the instruments for peers' performance are the proportions of classmates born in the second semester of the year (and alternatively, in each quarter). The idea behind the instruments is that compulsory school enrolment laws generate variation in the child's age at school entry, which, in turn, make the date of birth within the year an important determinant of educational achievement and, at the same time, plausibly exogenous to the quality of the student's peers. The results demonstrate that classrooms with higher proportions of peers born in the 2nd semester (started school at a relatively older age) tend to perform better, on average, than those that concentrate children born in the 1st semester, even after the inclusion of a wide range of control variables. For the math and Portuguese language evaluations, a one standard deviation increase in the classmates' test scores improves individual achievement by 30% of a SD.
Subjects: 
Peer effects
Instrumental variables
School enrolment laws
JEL: 
I20
I21
C13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article

Files in This Item:
File
Size
735.02 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.