Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Double in Trouble: Boys and Learning in School in Texas, North Carolina, and Italy
Author-Name: Antonio Ciccone
Author-Email: antonio.ciccone@uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: Federico Cingano
Author-Email: 
Author-Name: Walter Garcia-Fontes
Author-Email:

Classification-JEL: I21, J16, J24
Keywords: Peer effects in school, grade retention, selection bias

Abstract: 
Children have been found to learn less in school when there are more boys in the classroom. We
make two contributions to the literature. First, we revisit the empirical approach based on withinschool
grade-level variation. We find that with grade retention (a feature of most school systems) the
approach is subject to a selection bias that generates effects of boys on their classmates’ skills in the
absence of any peer effects. We propose an alternative based on variation across enrollment cohorts.
Second, we implement both approaches using data on around 3.6 million children in 14,000 primary
schools in Texas, North Carolina, and Italy. We find adverse effects of boys on how much children
learn in school using both the grade-level and the enrollment-cohort approach. The enrollment-cohort
approach yields adverse effects on boys that are at least double the adverse effects on girls in all three
school systems. By contrast, consistent with the selection bias we highlight, the grade-level approach
yields similar adverse effects on boys and girls in the school systems with substantial grade retention.

Note: 
Length: 22
Creation-Date: 2025-03
Revision-Date:
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp667
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2025_667