Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-06-29T14:40:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 filiperodriguesvianna.pdf: 2477695 bytes, checksum: 7e55b9eb9b2d53b58522606533f2a699 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-08T12:02:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 filiperodriguesvianna.pdf: 2477695 bytes, checksum: 7e55b9eb9b2d53b58522606533f2a699 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-08T12:02:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 filiperodriguesvianna.pdf: 2477695 bytes, checksum: 7e55b9eb9b2d53b58522606533f2a699 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-18 / Essa dissertação tem o objetivo de identificar e mensurar o efeito dos pares sobre o desempenho escolar, medido pela proficiência em testes de Português e Matemática, de alunos de 1ª à 4ª série do Ensino Fundamental, de escolas públicas e privadas participantes do Estudo Longitudinal Geração Escolar (GERES, 2005-2008). A base de dados do GERES acompanha alunos ao longo da primeira etapa do ensino fundamental e fornece, além das informações dos alunos, informações sobre escolas, professores e diretores. O estudo parte de um modelo linear onde o desempenho escolar dos alunos é explicado pelo desempenho médio de seu grupo de pares, além de características próprias e pela média das características de seu grupo. O método aplicado, proposto por Lee (2007) utiliza variações no tamanho dos grupos e desvios das características em relação à média para a identificação dos efeitos. Os resultados são obtidos pelo estimador de Mínimos Quadrados em Dois Estágios (2SLS), utilizando os instrumentos propostos por Bramoullé, Djebbari e Fortin (2009). As regressões foram feitas para cada etapa do GERES, com o intuito de verificar a evolução dos coeficientes ao longo do tempo. Além disso, comparam-se os resultados obtidos com o uso de uma amostra de dados em painel balanceada e uma base de dados não balanceada, em que se aproveita informações de alunos com informações faltantes através de uma correção proposta por Davezies et al. (2009). Seja usando a amostra balanceada, seja usando a amostra não balanceada, os resultados indicam que os alunos são negativamente impactados pelos pares que possuem desempenho escolar superior. As características contextuais do grupo de pares também exercem influência sobre o desempenho escolar, sendo o nível socioeconômico e o gênero dos alunos as características mais importantes. / This dissertation aims to identify and measure the peer effects on scholar performance of students, measured by proficiency in Portuguese and Mathematics tests, from 1st to 4th grades of public and private schools who attended the Estudo Longitudinal Geração Escolar (GERES, 2005-2008). The GERES database follows students throughout the first stage of elementary school and provides, apart from the students' information, data about schools, teachers and principals. The study starts from a linear model where the students' performance is explained by the average performance of his/her peer group, as well as his/her own characteristics and average characteristics of his/her group. The applied method - proposed by Lee (2007) - uses variations in the size of the groups and deviations of the characteristics from the mean as well, in order to identify the peer effects. The coefficients are estimated through the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimator, using the instruments proposed by Bramoullé, Djebbari and Fortin (2009). The regressions consider each wave of the GERES to verify the change of the coefficients over time. Further, we compare the results between a balanced database with an unbalanced database, where the correction method follows Davezies et al. (2009). In both samples, the results show that the average performance of the peers negatively impacts student’s performances. The background characteristics of the peer group also influence school performance, specifically the socioeconomic level and the gender of the students.

Cette thèse vise à discuter de la pertinence de l'introduction de mécanismes de marché au sein du système éducatif. En particulier, elle s'interroge sur la capacité de ces mécanismes à améliorer la réussite des élèves. Elle montre dans une première partie que des mécanismes de marché n’ont que peu de chance de permettre un meilleur appariement des élèves aux écoles, des mécanismes centralisés étant préférables. Elle mesure ensuite l’ampleur des effets de pair dans le système scolaire français, et montre qu’ils sont non négligeables. Elle montre ensuite que le système éducatif public français est peu capable de rémunérer ses enseignants au mérite. Enfin, elle analyse l’impact d’une ouverture à la compétition du marché scolaire sur le niveau d’effort des écoles et montre qu’une telle ouverture est susceptible de réduire le niveau d’effort des écoles en augmentant la différentiation vertical entre école, et donc leur pouvoir de marché. En conclusion, les mécanismes de marché semblent peu capables d’améliorer la réussite scolaire. / This dissertation discusses the relevance of the implementation of market mechanisms in the educational system. It shows that such mechanisms are unlikely to improve the matching between schools and students, since centralized mechanisms perform better. Then, it measures peers effects in French public junior high school, and shows that they quite large. In a third part, it looks to the compensation of teachers in France, and show that it is not based on merit or performance. Last, it analyses the impact of the openness to competition of the education, and shows that it is unlikely to produce improvement. Indeed, such openness would lead to an increased vertical differentiation across, giving them more market power. As a result, market mechanisms seem unable to improve students’ achievement.

In the educational literature on peer effects, attention has been brought to the fact that the mechanisms creating peer effects are still to a large extent hidden in obscurity. The hypothesis in this study is that the Frame Factor Theory can be used to explain these mechanisms. At heart of the theory is the concept of “time needed” for students to learn a certain curricula unit. The relations between class-aggregated time needed and the actual time available, steers and hinders the actions possible for the teacher. Further, the theory predicts that the timing and pacing of the teachers’ instruction is governed by a “steering criterion group” (SCG), namely the pupils in the 10th-25th percentile of the aptitude distribution in class. The class composition hereby set the possibilities and limitations for instruction, creating peer effects on individual outcomes. To test if the theory can be applied to the issue of peer effects, the study employs multilevel structural equation modelling (M-SEM) on Swedish TIMSS 2015-data (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study; students N=3761, teachers N=179). Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the SEM-framework, latent variables are specified according to the theory, such as “limitations of instruction” from TIMSS survey items. The results indicate a good model fit to data of the measurement model. The SEM-model verify a strong relation between the mean level of the SCG and the latent variable of limitations on instruction, a variable which in turn has a great impact on individual students’ test results. Thus, the analysis indicates a confirmation of the predictions derived from the frame factor theory and reveals that one of the important mechanisms creating peer effects in student outcomes is the effect the class composition has upon the teachers’ instruction in class.

Cette thèse se compose de trois essais indépendants dont le dénominateur commun est d'étudier le rôle du contexte institutionnel et de l'environnement social dans lesquels se décident les trajectoires scolaires, professionnelles et familiales. Une moitié environ des lycées parisiens (les plus prestigieux) reçoivent chaque année davantage de demandes d'admission de la part des collégiens qu’ils n'ont de places disponibles. Le logiciel d'affection utilisé (Affelnet) est contraint de définir, pour chacun de ces lycées, un niveau minimum (en termes de note moyenne obtenue en troisième) nécessaire pour l'admission. En comparant les trajectoires des derniers collégiens admis dans des lycées parisiens sélectifs avec celles des premiers recalés, nous montrons dans le premier chapitre que l'accès à un établissement scolaire sélectif n'a aucun impact sur les performances ultérieures au baccalauréat, mais un impact très négatif sur la propension des jeunes lycéennes à s'orienter dans la filière générale scientifique en fin de seconde. Dans le contexte parisien, l’accès à un lycée sélectif s’accompagne surtout d’une amélioration du niveau académique des camarades de classe, notamment en science. Nos résultats concorderaient donc avec les travaux d’économie et psychologie expérimentale suggérant que les filles seraient plus réticentes que les garçons à choisir des voies compétitives. Le deuxième chapitre porte sur les effets des politiques de redoublement en classes préparatoires scientifiques, en distinguant les effets directs observés pour les redoublants eux-mêmes et les effets indirects induits sur les autres élèves au moment de la préparation des concours. Nous montrons que les redoublements ont des effets très largement positifs pour les redoublants eux-mêmes, mais que la présence de nombreux redoublants dans une classe a des effets plutôt négatifs pour les autres élèves, notamment quand ces redoublants sont forts académiquement. Plus une classe compte de redoublants de haut niveau académique (niveau mesuré lors de leur première participation aux concours) plus les nouveaux arrivants sont en difficulté au moment des concours, alors que les performances des nouveaux arrivants sont largement insensibles au nombre de redoublants de niveau moyen ou faible. Les redoublements ne semblent pas influer sur les autres élèves parce qu'ils contribuent à surcharger les classes, mais parce qu'ils en modifient le profil et peuvent induire les enseignants à produire des cours d'un niveau trop ambitieux. Le troisième chapitre s'intéresse aux conséquences pour les trajectoires familiales de l'institutionnalisation des emplois précaires et des difficultés accrues rencontrées par les jeunes adultes pour s'insérer durablement dans l'emploi. Nous y développons une analyse de durée à partir du modèle d'Abbring et van den Berg (2003) et de deux enquêtes rétrospectives sur de larges échantillons de jeunes adultes, et montrons que l'accès à l'emploi stable constitue une étape bien plus décisive que l’accès à un emploi précaire pour la mise en couple et l'arrivée des premiers enfants. Ainsi, entre les générations nées au milieu des années cinquante et celles nées au début des années soixante-dix, la montée de la part des emplois précaires et du chômage des jeunes expliquerait environ 25% des retards observés dans l'âge de mise en couple, et 40% des retards dans l'âge au premier enfant. / This thesis is composed of three independent essays studying the role of the schooling and social environment in which individuals make their educational, work or family decisions. The first chapter studies the impact of enrollment at a more selective Parisian high school on students' performance and choice of field of study. We compare students' educational outcomes depending on whether their 9th grade standardized score fell just above or below an admission threshold, and we find that enrollment at a more selective high school has no impact on students' performance but induces female students to turn away from scientific fields and settle for less competitive ones. Our results are consistent with lab-experiment findings on gender differences in attitude towards competition and bad grades. The second chapter analyzes grade repetition in higher education and focuses on the spillover effects induced by grade repeaters on undergraduate freshmen. We distinguish between spillovers effects induced by higher- or lower- achieving repeaters to disentangle class size from composition effects, and we find that grade repetition generates little congestion effects but has important negative composition effects. We show that the performances of freshmen are very sensitive to the number of higher-achieving repeaters while they are not impacted by the number of lower-achieving repeaters. One potential mechanism would be distortion in teaching practices. The last chapter studies the impact of temporary contracts and youth unemployment to explain observed delays in age at first cohabiting relationship and in age at first child. Using French data on the work and family history of large samples of young adults, this chapter provides evidence that access to permanent jobs has a much stronger impact than access to temporary jobs for family formation. According to our estimates, about 25% of the increase in age at first cohabitation and about 40% of the increase in age at first child observed during the second half of the century can be explained by the rise in unemployment and in the share of temporary jobs among young workers.

In this dissertation, I study econometric issues in network and health economics. Measurement error is a ubiquitous problem in the peer effects literature that is not well understood. In Chapter 1, ``Measurement error in peer effects,'' I develop a constructive approach to empirically assess the bias caused by links missing at random. I apply my method to study the bias in peer effect estimates of recreational and physical activities among adolescents in the United States. I find that the magnitude and direction of the bias depends on the estimator. Estimators that measure the aggregate effect of peers' outcomes are more robust to measurement error and can be unbiased even when fifty percent of peer interactions are unobserved. Estimators that measure the average effect of peers'’ outcomes are more susceptible to measurement error and suffer from a persistent downward bias. My findings illustrate the importance of understanding measurement error's impact, when measurement error will likely bias results and when it can be safely ignored. In Chapter 2, ``Non-random errors in peer effects,'' I study the effects of measurement error on a generalized peer effect model that nests two of the most commonly used estimators. Measurement error in the specification of peer groups leads to biased estimates. I adapt Monte Carlo methods developed for studying measurement error when peers' interactions are missing at random to understand the effects of top-coding, non-random errors and spurious peer interactions. I find that non-random errors pose the greatest threat, often leading to overestimation and persistent biases. Top-coding can also severely bias estimates when the constraint impacts a majority of individuals but otherwise has a mild effect. While spurious links in limited quantities can often be ignored. Chapter 3, ``Nurse outreach and frequent emergency department users: A synthetic control analysis,'' studies the effects of an intervention to promote primary care engagement among frequent emergency department users. Emergency departments are one of the costliest places to receive care and are routinely overcrowded. Various policy initiatives have yielded mixed findings. I use synthetic control methods to analyze the effects of a nurse outreach program for frequent emergency department users implemented by a major U.S. insurer. The program seeks to reduce emergency department utilization by promoting primary care engagement. I leverage a unique commercial claims data set to measure the effects of the program on primary care and emergency department utilization. My findings suggest that six months after treatment nurse outreach increased primary care utilization by 15 percent; however, I find no clear effect on emergency department utilization. My findings indicate that increasing primary care engagement may not be sufficient to prevent emergency department over utilization. / Economics

No description available.

This dissertation develops a theoretical model of educational peer effects and then empirically tests whether or not they exist. In the theoretical model, each student selects an effort level to maximize utility; this effort choice depends on his peer group's effort and race. The students' equilibrium effort expression results in hypotheses that can be directly investigated empirically, a definition of the social multiplier, and conditions under which a social multiplier exists. The empirical model uses student-level data with observations on complete classrooms and two measures of effort, self-assessed effort and time spent studying, to investigate whether or not peer effects exist. The estimation results of the empirical model, interpreted using a simulation-based technique, find a positive relationship between the amount of time a student spends studying and time spent studying by peers who share his race; for self-assessed effort, the results are ambiguous. Simulations of policy experiments show that effort is higher in more racially homogeneous classrooms and that a social multiplier exists for both a reduction in the time a student spends working at a part time job and an increase in the student's socioeconomic status. / Economics

Firms' operational restructuring involves information relevant to strategic choices as well as future demand and cost conditions. This study examines the relationship between peer firms' restructuring and a company's responsiveness to its growth opportunities. Peer firm restructuring can increase uncertainty with respect to a company's payoffs regarding its investment projects, leading to decreased responsiveness to growth opportunities. Using a large sample of public companies during 2006–2020, I find that peer firms' restructuring is negatively associated with the responsiveness of capital expenditures (Capex) to growth opportunities. The results suggest that peer firms' restructuring activities provide information about a company's investment projects above and beyond industry shocks reflected in changes in industry sales. Furthermore, these associations are moderated by industry competition. The negative effects of peer firms' restructuring on Capex sensitivity are the strongest in high-competition industries.

Yes / This paper investigates the role of peer effects in the employee welfare policies of organizations. Using US panel data for a sample of 11,451 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2017, we find that firms’ employee welfare decisions are driven by their peers and show that peer firms play a significant role in defining corporate employee welfare policies. Our findings are robust to various sensitivity checks, including alternative definitions of employee welfare, alternative peer proxies, and several identification strategies. Our additional analysis shows that herding behavior is prevalent in followers, who mimic leaders' behavior, but we do not find any such relationship for industry leaders. Further, we show the evidence suggesting that mimetic and normative isomorphic pressures are driving the peer effects. Finally, we document the economic consequence of peer mimicking in employee welfare policies. Our findings on firms’ peer effects and herding behavior have policy implications.

This dissertation focuses on two distinct relationships: 1) classroom peer ability and student end-of-course test outcomes and 2) school tracking policy and student end-of-course test outcomes. Utilizing the education production function and hierarchical linear models, this dissertation contributes to the literature in the field of public policy by extending the work of previous scholars and focusing attention on these relationships in three high school subjects (English I, Algebra I, and Biology). In addition, I present a novel method for identifying tracking intensity within schools. The primary research questions addressed in the dissertation include: 1) To what extent does the ability level of classroom peers contribute to student test score performance?; 2) Does the variability of prior achievement within classrooms correlate with student test score outcomes?; and 3) Is there a relationship between school tracking policy and student test scores? Collectively these questions directly relate to policy options at the school, district, and state levels.