We follow students majoring in Economics, Business, and Accounting in a prestigious Brazilian university up to 15 years after admission to estimate the effects of peer ability on academic and labor market outcomes. We exploit the variation in cohorts’ composition across time and students’ exogenous allocation across classrooms to deal with selection issues. Our results suggest that peer ability does not significantly affect students’ short-term academic outcomes but has positive long-term impacts on formal labor market participation and the decision to enroll in graduate studies. Our findings suggest that peers in young adulthood may have a more considerable influence on behaviors than on short-term academic outcomes.

我们在录取后长达 15 年的时间里跟踪在巴西著名大学主修经济学、商业和会计专业的学生，​​以估计同龄人能力对学术和劳动力市场结果的影响。我们利用不同时间的队列构成和学生跨教室的外生分配来解决选择问题。我们的研究结果表明，同伴能力不会显着影响学生的短期学业成绩，但对正式劳动力市场参与和研究生学习的决定有积极的长期影响。我们的研究结果表明，与短期学业成绩相比，青年时期的同龄人对行为的影响可能更大。