TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ding,Weili
AU  - Lehrer,Steven F.
TI  - Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12305
PY  - 2006
Y2  - June 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12305
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12305.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Weili Ding
Queens University
138 Union Street
Policy Studies Building
Kingston
Ontario  K7L 3N6
Canada
Tel: 613-533-6000x78784
Fax: 613-533-2135
E-Mail: dingw@post.queensu.ca

Steven F. Lehrer
School of Policy Studies
and Department of Economics
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario
K7L, 3N6 CANADA
Tel: 613/533-6692
Fax: 613/533-2135
E-Mail: lehrers@post.queensu.ca
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2006-06-19
AB  - Peer effects have figured prominently in debates on school vouchers, desegregation, ability tracking and anti-poverty programs. Compelling evidence of their existence remains scarce for plaguing endogeneity issues such as selection bias and the reflection problem. This paper firmly establishes a link between peer performance and student achievement, using a unique dataset from China. We find strong evidence that peer effects exist and operate in a positive and nonlinear manner; reducing the variation of peer performance increases achievement; and our semi-parametric estimates clarify the tradeoffs facing policymakers in exploiting positive peers effects to increase future achievement.
ER  -