Tracking the Herd with a Shotgun — Why Do Peers Influence College Major Selection?

Arbeitspapier

How do peers influence people's choices? We explore this fundamental question by exploiting unique data produced by, and a natural experiment conducted on, students from the United States Naval Academy (USNA). We develop a conceptual framework to highlight that individuals can emulate others for both information (social learning) and for socializing (network externalities). We then analyze data on the preliminary preferences and ultimate major selections of USNA freshmen, exploiting a rich set of covariates and the random assignment of students to peer groups. We find that students can be influenced by peers into selecting different academic paths relative to what they would have chosen on their own. Through random reassignments of certain student groups into new peer groups, we also explore the reasons why herding occurs. The preponderance of evidence suggests that social learning, as opposed to network externalities, is the key driver for herding behavior.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14412

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Network Formation and Analysis: Theory ; Analysis of Education ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: major selection ; peer effects ; higher education ; herding ; social networks

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Insler, Michael ; Rahman, Ahmed S. ; Smith, Katherine
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2021

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/236443
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET