Conditional Gender Peer Effects?

While the current empirical literature on peer group effects in schools highlights that credible causal peer effects cannot be estimated unless parental sorting is taken into account, the present paper highlights that causal peer effects might be conditional on the learning environment in which they occur. This approach is motivated by the existing theoretical literature which indicates that peer effects cannot be estimated without taking into account the role of school decision makers. We present indicative empirical evidence that gender peer effects in the Norwegian elementary school are conditional upon the level of special education provided.