After reading the two assigned papers, my initial reaction is the behavior response findings of Pop-Eleches and Urquiola (2013) complicate the results from Abdulkadiroglu et al. (2014), which finds that student’s near the threshold for qualifying for elite exam schools do not receive a significant “value add” when surpassing the cut off scores. If, as Pop-Eleches and Urquiola (2013) find, those students who are barely on passing side of the threshold find themselves experiencing negative behavioral effects, such as decreased family time investment in their own education or an inferiority complex relative to their classmates, one would expect the peer effect impact on outcomes to be negatively biased towards zero. Despite the fact that Abdulkadiroglu et al. …show more content…
I understand that the two papers were published close together in time, and that Abdulkadiroglu et al. (2014) probably did not have the data to answer the question. That being said, I believe it should have been mentioned at least as a potential threat to their analysis. One could imagine that in the cities of Boston and New York, where the atmosphere is so competitive that these behavioral biases are stronger. Furthermore, again assuming the Pop-Eleches and Urquioula (2013) findings would hold in the United States let alone these two cities, being surrounded by higher achieving classmates while simultaneously doubting your own abilities (and perhaps experiencing less teacher attention than your compatriots) could affect your standing relative to your school and the extracurricular activities you take part