Higher education policymakers are concerned about the success of first-generation college students. In this study, we investigate one potential factor that may influence outcomes: first-generation students' peers. To mitigate common biases that may arise when estimating peer effects, we leverage...

In this paper we estimate peer effects in parental leaves (PLs), analyzing whether mothers' choices may be influenced by prior decisions made by their female colleagues. We identify peer effects through an exogenous variation in the probability that peers take a PL driven by a reform implemented...

In 2013, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a database of consumer complaints filed against banks under its supervision (“CFPB banks”). We find that after the disclosure, rival banks exhibit a greater increase in mortgage approval rates in markets with more intensive...

We investigate the influence of peer quality on subjective performance evaluation using 75,413 ratings of 130 employees from 6,908 raters in a business school setting. We find that subjective performance ratings are lower for employees with higher quality peer groups in both randomized and...

Through peer benchmarking, ESG rating agencies promote competition among firms for better ratings. I investigate whether mandatory firm transparency triggers imitation behavior by rated peerfirms. Following a plausibly-exogenous increase in ESG disclosures, the introduction of mandatorygender...

This paper studies how peers’ financial behaviour affects individuals’ own investment choices. To identify the peer effect, we exploit the composition of the Luxembourg population and use the differ-ences in stock market participation across various immigrant groups to study the effect on...

This paper investigates direct peer influence in upper-secondary track choice in the stratified and selective Hungarian educational system and makes two contributions to the literature. First, it tests both peer-contrasting and peer-conforming influences by considering peers' GPA and endogenous...

Social theories posit that peers affect students' academic self-concept (ASC). Most prominently, Big-Fish-Little-Pond, invidious comparison, and relative deprivation theories predict that exposure to academically stronger peers decreases students' ASC, and exposure to academically weaker peers...

This paper examines how beliefs and preferences drive identity-conforming consumption or investments. We introduce a theory that explains how identity distorts individuals' beliefs about potential outcomes and imposes psychic costs on benefiting from identity-incongruent sources. We substantiate...