The Persistent Effects of Short-Term Peer Groups in Higher Education

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies the persistent effects of short-term peer exposure in a college setting. I exploit the random assignment of undergraduates to peer groups during a mandatory orientation week and follow the students until graduation. High levels of peer ability in a group harm the students' test scores and lead to increases in the probability of early dropout; this result is driven by the adverse effect of high-ability peers on low-ability students. I find suggestive evidence for discouragement effects: Peer ability is negatively correlated with the students' confidence in their academic ability after the first week.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2018:32

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Education ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: peer effect ; higher education ; natural experiment ; ability ; educational attainment ; dropout ; major choice

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Thiemann, Petra
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics
• (where): Lund
• (when): 2018

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/260261
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET