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We investigate co‐worker peer effects in the use of parental leave in Sweden. We use an instrumental variable approach called "peers of peers", in which the parental leave taken by family peers (siblings and cousins) of co‐workers is used as an instrument for co‐workers' use of parental leave. For fathers, we find that a 10‐day increase in the average parental leave taken by co‐workers increases their use of parental leave by approximately one and a half days, while, for mothers, the increase is approximately one day. The results are robust to alternative model specifications. We explore possible mechanisms and discuss policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims:  The aim of this study is to follow-up on previous research indicating that the sex composition of workplaces is related to a number of health outcomes, including sickness absenteeism and mortality. We test two hypotheses. The first is Kanter’s theory of tokenism, which suggests that minority group members suffer from an increased risk of stress. Secondly, we test the hypothesis that workplaces with a higher proportion of men will have a higher incidence rate of ischaemic heart disease (IHD), as men are more likely to engage in negative health behaviours, and through peer effects this will result in a workplace culture that is detrimental to health over the long term. Methods: Large-scale, longitudinal Swedish administrative register data are used to study the risk of overnight hospitalization for IHD amongst 67,763 men over the period 1990 to 2001. Discrete-time survival analyses were estimated in the form of logistic regression models. Results: Men have an elevated risk of suffering from IHD in non-gender-balanced workplaces, but this association was only statistically significant in workplaces with 61–80% and 81–100% males. However, after adjusting for occupation no clear pattern of association could be discerned. No pattern of association was observed for women. Conclusions: This study suggests that the gender composition of workplaces is not strongly associated with the risk of suffering from IHD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When studying educational aspirations of adolescents, it is unrealistic to assume that the aspirations of pupils are independent of those of their friends. Considerable attention has also been given to the study of peer influence in the educational and behavioral literature. Typically, in empirical studies, the friendship networks have either been reduced to some summary measure or, when the complexity of the social structure has been used to its full extent, the studies have been limited to single networks, thereby effectively neglecting the context of the studied network. The authors propose a multilevel probit model with correlated responses and a Markov chain Monte Carlo–based inference scheme for analyzing multilevel data where there may be dependencies not only within levels but also between peers that are directly relationally tied. The authors describe the procedures in the context of the illustrative case of the Stockholm Birth Cohort, and the decision to proceed to higher secondary education for 12,660 pupils in 619 school classes in Stockholm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: In this paper I use a rich dataset in order to observe each student in different subjects and courses over time. Unlike most peer studies, I identify the peers and the teachers that each student has had in every classroom. This enables me to handle the simultaneity and selection problems, which are inherent in estimating peer effects in the educational production function. I use a value-added approach with lagged peer achievement to avoid simultaneity and extensive fixed effects to rule out selection. To be specific, it is within-student across-subject variation with additional controls for time-invariant teacher characteristics that is exploited. Moreover, I identify students that are attending classes in which they have no peers from previous education which otherwise might bias the result. I find positive peer effects for the average student but also that there is a non-linear dimension. Lower-achieving students benefit more from an increase in both mean peer achievement and the spread in peer achievement within the classroom than their higher-achieving peers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• In contrast to previous studies, which primarily studied the average effects of school closures on students in receiving schools, this study takes a closer look at the effects of closing low-performing schools. • The study also contributes by analyzing how such closures influence the receiving schools and their students over time, by including more measures of the demographic composition of the schools and by investigating a country outside the US. • The results show that the inflow of displaced students had a negative effect on student outcomes in Swedish receiving schools in terms of average grades and test scores and that this effect increased over time. • Student achievement among students in the receiving schools was generally not affected by the inflow of displaced students, even when these students came from relatively low-performing schools. This article aims to investigate how students in receiving schools are affected by school closures. The effects are analyzed in a quasi-experimental study of all Swedish middle schools that received displaced students from 2000 to 2016, utilizing family fixed effects. The results show that the inflow of displaced students had a negative effect on student outcomes in the receiving schools in terms of average grades and test scores and that this effect increased over time. However, student achievement among nondisplaced students in the receiving schools was not affected by the inflow of displaced students, even when the displaced students came from relatively low-performing schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]