Friendship Network in the Classroom: Parents Bias and Peer Effects

42 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2014

See all articles by Fabio Landini

Fabio Landini

University of Parma

Natalia Montinari

University of Lund, School of Economics

Paolo Pin

University of Siena - Dipartimento di Economia Politica

Marco Piovesan

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics

Date Written: January 2014

Abstract

We interview both parents and their children enrolled in six primary schools in the district of Treviso (Italy). We study the structural differences between the children network of friends reported by children and the one elicited asking their parents. We find that the parents’ network has a bias: parents expect peer effects on school achievement to be stronger than what they really are. Thus, parents of low-performing students report their children to be friends of high-performing students. Our numerical simulations indicate that when this bias is combined with a bias on how some children target friends, then there is a multiplier effect on the expected school achievement.

Keywords: social networks, primary school, friendships, parents' bias, homophily, peer effects, Bonacich centrality

JEL Classification: D85, I21, Z13

Suggested Citation

Landini, Fabio and Montinari, Natalia and Pin, Paolo and Piovesan, Marco, Friendship Network in the Classroom: Parents Bias and Peer Effects (January 2014). Univ. of Copenhagen Dept. of Economics Discussion Paper No. 14-06, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2408498 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2408498

Fabio Landini

University of Parma ( email )

Parma
Italy

Natalia Montinari

University of Lund, School of Economics ( email )

Tycho Brahes väg 1,
S-220 07 Lund, 223 63
Sweden

Paolo Pin

University of Siena - Dipartimento di Economia Politica ( email )

Piazza San Francesco 8
Siena, I53100
Italy

Marco Piovesan (Contact Author)

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics ( email )

Øster Farimagsgade 5
Bygning 26
1353 Copenhagen K.
Denmark

HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.ku.dk/piovesan/

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