TY - UNPB

T1 - Friendship Network in the Classroom: Parents Bias and Peer Effects

AU - Landini, Fabio

AU - Montinari , Natalia

AU - Pin , Paolo

AU - Piovesan, Marco

N1 - JEL Classification: D85, I21, Z13

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - We interview both parents and their children enrolled in six primary schools in the district of Treviso (Italy). We study the structural differences between the children network of friends reported by children and the one elicited asking their parents. We find that the parents’ network has a bias: parents expect peer effects on school achievement to be stronger than what they really are. Thus, parents of low-performing students report their children to be friends of high-performing students. Our numerical simulations indicate that when this bias is combined with a bias on how some children target friends, then there is a multiplier effect on the expected school achievement

AB - We interview both parents and their children enrolled in six primary schools in the district of Treviso (Italy). We study the structural differences between the children network of friends reported by children and the one elicited asking their parents. We find that the parents’ network has a bias: parents expect peer effects on school achievement to be stronger than what they really are. Thus, parents of low-performing students report their children to be friends of high-performing students. Our numerical simulations indicate that when this bias is combined with a bias on how some children target friends, then there is a multiplier effect on the expected school achievement

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - social networks

KW - primary school

KW - friendships

KW - parents' bias

KW - homophily

KW - peer effects

KW - Bonacich centrality

M3 - Working paper

T3 - University of Copenhagen. Institute of Economics. Discussion Papers (Online)

BT - Friendship Network in the Classroom: Parents Bias and Peer Effects

PB - Økonomisk institut, Københavns Universitet

CY - Copenhagen

ER -