What should I aspire to? Peer effects in adolescents’ friendship networks

D'Exelle, Ben, Habraken, Rik and Verschoor, Arjan (2023) What should I aspire to? Peer effects in adolescents’ friendship networks. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 72 (1). pp. 27-78. ISSN 0013-0079

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Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, economic aspirations often conflict with aspirations to follow traditional social obligations. We test whether adolescents are influenced by friends when deciding which to prioritize. To do so, we elicit the preferences and perceived competition between economic and social aspirations of 553 Ugandan students, as well as their friendship ties. Using characteristics of nonoverlapping friends as instrumental variables, we identify strong peer effects. They are stronger with more interaction among friends, or when the information shared is more relevant or more important relative to other signals. We find no peer effect on the perceived competition between aspirations.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2022 08:30
Last Modified:	01 Jul 2025 00:45
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/84419
DOI:	10.1086/720543

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