The effects of social ties on academic achievement

This study investigates peer effects on academic achievement. The study considers the specific case of how peers affect the academic achievement of U.S. high school students through the values that they place on doing well in school. Production theory is employed as a basis to model the education production process, through which peers are believed to affect academic achievement. An ordered probit model is then used to carryout the empirical analysis. The results of this study suggest that not only do peer effects exist, but that they are positive in nature. In addition, the results indicate that low-performing students stand to gain significantly from having high-performing peers. High-performing students also stand to gain from having low-performing peers, or at the very least, they do not tend to experience negative effects from having low-performing peers. Other results which consider the heterogeneity of both achievement and race of friends are also reported