Abstract We study the influence of workplace peers on a high-stakes, irreversible retirement plan choice. Midcareer U.S. military personnel choose between higher future pension payouts or an immediate bonus plus lower future payouts. With peers defined as those who have locked in their choices and personnel assignment rules ensuring that peer groups are exogenously formed, we capture the causal impact of peers. Greater peer take-up of the bonus, which is difficult to compare to the alternative plan but often extremely costly over one’s lifetime, discourages choosers from selecting the bonus. Peers have special impact within professional, race, and gender groups.

Abstract We propose a framework for value-added models that flexibly characterizes heterogeneous teacher productivity based on multidimensional student characteristics. We show that teacher effectiveness heavily depends on the specific attributes of their students. For example, the difference in value-added between well-matched and poorlymatched students for the average teacher is approximately 0.1 standard deviations in test scores. Notably, these matching effects are particularly pronounced among lowachieving students. In language arts, the standard deviation in teacher value-added is one-third larger for low-achieving students compared to high-achieving students.

We show that stricter grading policies in STEM courses reduce STEM enrollment, especially for women. We estimate a model of student demand for courses and optimal effort choices given professor grading policies. Grading policies are treated as equilibrium objects that in part depend on student demand for courses. Differences in demand for STEM and non‐STEM courses explain much of why STEM classes give lower grades. Restrictions on grading policies that equalize average grades across classes reduce the STEM gender gap and increase overall enrollment in STEM classes.