American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages Benjamin A.OlkenMIT 1 33 This paper investigates the impact of television and radio on social capital in Indonesia. I use two sources of variation in signal reception -- one based on Indonesia's mountainous terrain, and a second based on the differential introduction of private television throughout Indonesia. I find that increased signal reception, which leads to more time watching television and listening to the radio, is associated with less participation in social organizations and with lower self-reported trust. Improved reception does not affect village governance, at least as measured by discussions in village meetings and by corruption in village road projects. (JEL L82, O15, Z13) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.1 10.1257/app.1.4.1 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0083_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0083_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Peer Effects in the Workplace: Evidence from Random Groupings in Professional Golf Tournaments JonathanGuryanU Chicago KoryKroftU CA, Berkeley Matthew J.NotowidigdoMIT 34 68 This paper uses random assignment in professional golf tournaments to test for peer effects in the workplace. We find no evidence that playing partners' ability affects performance, contrary to recent evidence on peer effects in the workplace from laboratory experiments, grocery scanners, and soft fruit pickers. In our preferred specification, we can rule out peer effects larger than 0.043 strokes for a one stroke increase in playing partners' ability. Our results complement existing studies on workplace peer effects and are useful in explaining how social effects vary across labor markets, across individuals, and with the form of incentives faced. (JEL D83, J44, L83) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.34 10.1257/app.1.4.34 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0092_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0092_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article The Effects of Peer Group Heterogeneity on the Production of Human Capital at West Point David S.LyleUS Military Academy, West Point 69 84 Understanding how heterogeneity in peer group composition affects academic attainment has important implications for how schools organize students in group settings. The random assignment of cadets to companies at West Point affords an opportunity to investigate this issue empirically. Estimates of the impact of peer group heterogeneity in math SAT scores on freshmen-year academic performance reveals that more heterogeneous peer groups have positive effects on individual grades. High-ability peers account for most of the positive effect, while low-ability peers have no measureable effect. (JEL I23, J24, M54) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.69 10.1257/app.1.4.69 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0169_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0169_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Teaching Students and Teaching Each Other: The Importance of Peer Learning for Teachers C. KiraboJacksonCornell U EliasBruegmannCornerstone Research, Menlo Park, CA 85 108 Using longitudinal elementary school teacher and student data, we document that students have larger test score gains when their teachers experience improvements in the observable characteristics of their colleagues. Using within-school and within-teacher variation, we show that a teacher's students have larger achievement gains in math and reading when she has more effective colleagues (based on estimated value-added from an out-of-sample pre-period). Spillovers are strongest for less experienced teachers and persist over time, and historical peer quality explains away about 20 percent of the own-teacher effect, results that suggest peer learning. (JEL I21, J24, J45) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.85 10.1257/app.1.4.85 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0188_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0188_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from the Introduction of the Food Stamp Program Hilary W.HoynesU CA, Davis Diane WhitmoreSchanzenbachU Chicago 109 39 Economists have strong theoretical predictions about how in-kind transfers, such as providing vouchers for food, impact consumption. Despite the prominence of the theory, there is little empirical work on responses to in-kind transfers, and most existing work fails to support the canonical theoretical model. We employ difference-indifference methods to estimate the impact of program introduction on food spending. Consistent with predictions, we find that food stamps reduce out-of-pocket food spending and increase overall food expenditures. We also find that households are inframarginal and respond similarly to one dollar in cash income and one dollar in food stamps. (JEL D12, H23, I38) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.109 10.1257/app.1.4.109 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0081_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0081_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Iodine Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Tanzania EricaFieldHarvard U OmarRoblesHarvard U MaximoToreroIFPRI 140 69 Cognitive damage from iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) has important implications for economic growth through its effect on human capital. To gauge the magnitude of this influence, we evaluate the impact on schooling of reductions in IDD from intensive iodine supplementation in Tanzania. Our findings suggest a large effect of in utero iodine on cognition and human capital: treated children attain an estimated 0.35-0.56 years of additional schooling relative to siblings and older and younger peers. Furthermore, the effect appears to be substantially larger for girls, consistent with laboratory evidence indicating greater cognitive sensitivity of female fetuses to maternal thyroid deprivation. (JEL I12, I21, J16, O15) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.140 10.1257/app.1.4.140 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0158_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0158_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article How Large Are Non-Budget-Constraint Effects of Prices on Demand? OriHeffetzCornell U MosesShayoHebrew U Jerusalem 170 99 Elementary consumer theory assumes prices affect demand only because they affect the budget constraint (BC). Alternative models, and some evidence, suggest prices can affect demand through other, non-BC channels (e.g., by signaling quality). This paper uses a lab and a field experiment to disentangle BC from non-BC effects of prices on demand. In the lab, we find that although prices positively affect stated willingness to pay, non-BC price elasticities are considerably smaller than BC price elasticities, are often statistically insignificant, and do not increase with product uncertainty. We do not detect any non-BC effects in our field experiment. (JEL C93, D12, M31) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.170 10.1257/app.1.4.170 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0232_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0232_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article In Pursuit of Balance: Randomization in Practice in Development Field Experiments MiriamBruhnWorld Bank DavidMcKenzieWorld Bank 200 232 We present new evidence on the randomization methods used in existing experiments, and new simulations comparing these methods. We find that many papers do not describe the randomization in detail, implying that better reporting is needed. Our simulations suggest that in samples of 300 or more, the different methods perform similarly. However, for very persistent outcome variables, and in smaller samples, pair-wise matching and stratification perform best and appear to dominate the rerandomization methods commonly used in practice. The simulations also point to specific recommendations for which variables to balance on, and for which controls to include in the ex post analysis. (JEL C83, C93, O12) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.200 10.1257/app.1.4.200 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0182_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0182_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 1 4 October 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=1&issue=4 Journal Article Front Matter i ii http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.i 10.1257/app.1.4.i