TY  - JOUR
AU  - Neidell,Matthew
AU  - Waldfogel,Jane
TI  - Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Peer Effects in Early Education
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14277
PY  - 2008
Y2  - August 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14277
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14277.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Matthew J. Neidell
Department of Health Policy and Management
Columbia University
722 W 168th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212/342-4522
Fax: 212/305-3405
E-Mail: mn2191@columbia.edu

Jane Waldfogel
Columbia University
School of Social Work
1255 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY  10027
E-Mail: jw205@columbia.edu
AB  - We examine peer effects in early education by estimating value added models with school fixed effects that control extensively for individual, family, peer, and teacher characteristics to account for the endogeneity of peer group formation. We find statistically significant and robust spillover effects from preschool on math and reading outcomes, but statistically insignificant effects on various behavioral and social outcomes. Of the behavioral and social effects explored, we find that peer externalizing problems, which most likely capture classroom disturbance, hinder cognitive outcomes. Our estimates imply that ignoring spillover effects significantly understates the social returns to preschool.
ER  -