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Peers, neighborhoods and immigrant student achievement - evidence from a placement policy

Author

Listed:
  • Åslund, Olof

    (Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU))

  • Edin, Per-Anders

    (IFAU, UCLS)

  • Fredriksson, Peter

    (Stockholm University, IZA, UCLS)

  • Grönqvist, Hans

    (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University)

Abstract

We examine to what extent immigrant school performance is affected by the characteristics of the neighborhoods that they grow up in. We address this issue using a refugee placement policy which provides exogenous variation in the initial place of residence in Sweden. The main result is that school performance is increasing in the number of highly educated adults sharing the subject’s ethnicity. A standard deviation increase in the fraction of high-educated in the assigned neighborhood raises compulsory school GPA by 0.9 percentile ranks. Particularly for disadvantaged groups, there are also long-run effects on educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Åslund, Olof & Edin, Per-Anders & Fredriksson, Peter & Grönqvist, Hans, 2010. "Peers, neighborhoods and immigrant student achievement - evidence from a placement policy," Working Paper Series 10/2010, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2010_010
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peer effects; Ethnic enclaves; Immigration; School performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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