Uncovering Peer Effects in Social and Academic Skills
通过在秘鲁公立寄宿学校进行大规模实地实验，研究社交网络中心性高的青少年同伴如何影响其他学生的社交技能和学业表现，发现同伴效应在社交技能上更显著且存在性别差异。
This paper studies the impact of adolescent peers who are central in their social network on the formation of social skills and academic performance of fellow students. I conduct a novel large-scale field experiment at selective public boarding schools in Peru with two treatments: (i) more socially central versus less socially central peers, and (ii) higher-achieving versus lower-achieving peers. Peer effects are more pronounced for social skills than academic performance, and both vary by gender. While socially central peers lead boys to better social skills, higher-achieving peers decrease girls' test scores. Gender differences in self-confidence can explain both findings.