Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5607
Authors: Eleonora Patacchini; Yves Zenou
Abstract: We investigate the sources of differences in school performance between students of different races by focusing on identity issues. We find that having a higher percentage of same-race friends has a positive effect of white teenagers? test score while having a negative effect on blacks? test scores. However, the higher the education level of a black teenager?s parent, the lower this negative effect, while for whites, it is the reverse. It is thus the combination of the choice of friends (which is a measure of own identity) and the parent?s education that are responsible for the difference in education attainment between students of different races but also between students of the same race. One interesting aspects of this paper is to provide a theoretical model that grounds the instrumental variable approach used in the empirical analysis to deal with endogeneity issues.
Keywords: education; achievement; endogeneity issues; ethnic minorities; peer effects
JEL Codes: A14; I21; J15; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| percentage of same-race friends (J15) | test scores of white teenagers (I24) |
| percentage of same-race friends (J15) | test scores of black teenagers (I24) |
| parental education (I24) | impact on test scores of black teenagers (I24) |
| parental education (I24) | impact on test scores of white teenagers (I24) |
| strong ethnic identities (Z13) | education penalty for black students (I24) |
| choice of friends (D71) | educational attainment (I21) |
| sense of black identity (J15) | choice of same-race friends (J15) |
| choice of same-race friends (J15) | school performance (D29) |