Peer and Selection Effects on Youth Smoking in California
构建了一个考虑同时性和非随机同伴选择的均衡模型，利用加州青少年数据估计同伴吸烟对吸烟决策的影响，发现该影响远弱于以往研究。
AbstractPrevious research has found that youth smoking choices are strongly influenced by peer smoking. However, these studies often fail to account for simultaneity and nonrandom peer selection. This article describes an equilibrium model of peer effects that incorporates both of these features, and estimates its parameters using data on California teenagers. Identification is aided by using the influence of observable variables on group selection as a proxy for the influence of unobservables. I find that the effect of peer smoking on the decision to smoke is much weaker than found in previous studies.KEY WORDS: Binary gamesPeer effectsSimulation-based estimationSocial interactions