Abstract: Recent studies for primary and secondary education find positive effects of the share of girls in the classroom on achievement of boys and girls. This study examines whether these results can be extrapolated to post-secondary education. We conduct an experiment in which the shares of girls in workgroups for first year students in economics and business are manipulated and students are randomly assigned to these groups. Boys tend to postpone, but not abandon, their dropout decision when surrounded by more girls and perform worse on courses with high math content. There is also a modest reduction in absenteeism early in the year. Overall, however, we fail to find substantial gender peer effects on achievement. This in spite of the fact that according to students' perceptions, both their own, and their peers’ behavior are influenced by the share of girls. Download this paper.
Abstract: We consider the effects of daytime fasting by pregnant women during the lunar month of Ramadan on their children's test scores at age seven. Using English register data, we find that scores are .05 to .08 standard deviations lower for Pakistani and Bangladeshi students exposed to Ramadan in early pregnancy. These estimates are downward biased to the extent that Ramadan is not universally observed. We conclude that the effects of prenatal investments on test scores are comparable to many conventional educational interventions but are likely to be more cost effective and less subject to “fade out”. Download this paper.