Social Interactions and Schooling Decisions

45 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2006

See all articles by Alejandra Cattaneo

Alejandra Cattaneo

University of Zurich

Rafael Lalive

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 2006

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study whether schooling choices are affected by social interactions. Such social interactions may be important because children enjoy spending time with other children or parents learn from other parents about the ability of their children. Identification is based on a randomized intervention that grants a cash subsidy encouraging school attendance among a sub-group of eligible children within small rural villages in Mexico. Results indicate that (i) the eligible children tend to attend school more frequently, (ii) but also the neligible children acquire more schooling when the subsidy is introduced in their local village, (iii) social interactions are economically important, and (iv) they may arise due to changes in parents' perception of their children's ability.

Keywords: Peer effects, schooling, field experiment, PROGRESA

JEL Classification: C93, I21, I28

Suggested Citation

Cattaneo, Alejandra and Lalive, Rafael, Social Interactions and Schooling Decisions (September 2006). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5816, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=937394

Alejandra Cattaneo

University of Zurich ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

Rafael Lalive (Contact Author)

University of Lausanne - Department of Economics ( email )

Batiment Internef
Lausanne, 1015
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
19
Abstract Views
835
PlumX Metrics