Exposure to prenatal androgens affects both future behavior and life choices. However, there is still relatively limited evidence on its effects on academic performance. Moreover, the predicted effect of exposure to prenatal testosterone (T) - which is inversely correlated with the relative...

Among the key issues of peer effects estimation is the correct identification of relevant peers. In this study, we explore how the individual performance of university students is influenced by characteristics and achievements of peers from individual’s social network. The analysis uses data...

We analyze the characteristics of the social networks of students studying in the economics department in one Russian university. We focus on student friendship and study assistance ties and demonstrate how these networks are connected with the individual characteristics of students and their...

We estimate the influence of classmates ability characteristics on student achievement in exogenously formed student groups. The study uses the administrative data on undergraduate students in large selective university in Russia. The presence of high-ability classmates has positive effect on...

This paper focuses on the changing economic value of secondary and higher education in four potential world economic powerhouses—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—known as the BRIC countries. We show that in the past twenty-five years in the BRIC countries, changes in rates of return to...

Diliara Valeeva - Research Assistant, International Laboratory for Institutional Analysis of Economic Reforms, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Address: 24 Myasnitskaya str., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: dvaleeva@hse.ruOleg Poldin - Research Fellow,...

We estimate the correlation between student’s choice of specialization and the choices of the students connected by social ties. We use data on students of Economics department at one of the Russian universities and show that the choice is linked with the choice of friends as well as study...

The authors discuss models presented in papers which are concerned with peer-effects in higher education, and their limitations. Open questions of educational policy and the challenges that they issue for researchers are formulated.

We study how the achievements of university students are influenced by the characteristics and achievements of peers in individuals’ social networks. Defining peer group in terms of friendship and study partner ties enables us to apply a network regression model and thereby disentangle the...

Social influence is an important factor in learning and decision making. We estimate peer influence on student choice of specialization using data on undergraduate students of a Russian university. Information about individual social ties has been gathered from a questionnaire survey. We show...