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It takes two shining lights to brighten the room: peer effects with random roommate assignments

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  • Liang Zhang
  • Shi Pu

Abstract

We used housing assignment data from a college in China to investigate peer effects on college grades. Study results provided some evidence for peer effects in college housing units. First, peer effects through means occurred during both fall and spring semester of the first year in college, with estimated effect much larger than that in previous studies. Second, students are also influenced by the mix of roommates. Finally, having more than one roommate in the top quartile has large and significant effects for female students; however, this positive effect is not statistically significant for male students.

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  • Liang Zhang & Shi Pu, 2017. "It takes two shining lights to brighten the room: peer effects with random roommate assignments," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 3-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:25:y:2017:i:1:p:3-21
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2016.1203867
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    Cited by:

    1. Fang, Guanfu & Wan, Shan, 2020. "Peer effects among graduate students: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Yi Cao & Tao Zhou & Jian Gao, 2024. "Heterogeneous peer effects of college roommates on academic performance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Shi Pu & Yu Yan & Liang Zhang, 2020. "Peers, Study Effort, and Academic Performance in College Education: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Roommates in a Flipped Classroom," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(2), pages 248-269, March.

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