The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 104 No. 3 2022

Effects of Peers and Rank on Cognition, Preferences, and Personality

Utteeyo Dasgupta¹; Subha Mani²; Smriti Sharma³; Saurabh Singhal⁴

¹ Fordham University, IZA, and GLO · ² Fordham University, Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, IZA, and GLO · ³ Newcastle University, IZA, and GLO · ⁴ Lancaster University and IZA

Abstract

We exploit the variation in admission cutoffs across colleges at a leading Indian university to estimate the causal effects of enrolling in a selective college on cognitive attainment, economic preferences, and Big Five personality traits. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that enrolling in a selective college improves university exam scores of the marginally admitted women and makes them less overconfident and less risk averse, while men in selective colleges experience a decline in extraversion and conscientiousness. We find differences in peer quality and rank concerns to be driving our findings.

DOI

10.1162/rest_a_00966

Volume

104

Issue

3

Pages

587-601

Language

en

Sources

openalex crossref

Cite

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