TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Diaz, Lelys Dinarte
        TI  - Peer Effects on Violence: Experimental Evidence from El Salvador
        PY  - 2024/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16830
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16830
        AB  - Globally, 150 million adolescents report being victims of or engaging in peer-to-peer violence in and around school. One strategy to reduce this risk is to occupy youth in after-school programs (ASP). Yet, the question remains: how does peer group composition affect the effectiveness of an ASP? I address this question by randomly assigning youths to either a control, homogeneous, or heterogeneous peer group within an ASP implemented in El Salvador. I find that, unlike homogeneous groups, heterogeneous peer groups do help students avoid violence. These results are relevant to public policy discussions on optimal group composition for violence reduction programs.
        KW  - peer effects
KW  - violence
KW  - integration
KW  - tracking
KW  - after-school programs
        ER  -