Peers as treatments

Working paper, 2023

Recommended citation: Krauth, Brian (2023). "Peers as treatments." Working paper, Simon Fraser University. https://bvkrauth.github.io/publication/peertreat

Social interaction effects are often estimated under the strong assumption that an individual’s choices depend directly on the observed characteristics of their peer group. This paper considers a less restrictive potential outcomes framework in which interaction with a given peer or peer group is considered a treatment with an unknown and variable treatment effect. In this framework, conventional peer effect regressions can be interpreted as characterizing treatment effect heterogeneity. This framework is then used to clarify identification and interpretation of commonly-used peer effect models and to suggest avenues for improving conventional empirical practice.

Current version: June 2023

Previous versions:

September 2022

August 2020

March 2011 (CESG)