Narrow Results

Despite empirical evidence that individuals form their fertility preferences by observing social norms and interactions in their environments, the exact impact of these peer effects remains unclear. We thus use data from the 2014 and 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey to investigate the association between community-level peer effects and fertility preferences among Chinese women aged 18–49. Whereas our baseline results indicate that 11.96% of these women would prefer 1 or no children, 74.1% would like 2 children and 13.93% would prefer 3 or more children. A one unit increase in community-level peer fertility reduces the preference of wanting only one child by 14.3%, whereas it increases the probability of preferring three children by 9.3% and four or more children by 4.8%. Hence, overall, we find a relatively strong peer effect on individual fertility preferences in communities characterized by generally low fertility rates, which provide support for the role of social norms in the fertility choices of reproductive-aged Chinese women.

This study examines how providing peer information for evaluation of progressive firms changes individuals’ evaluations. From the large sample of two experimental surveys, it was found that providing peer information leads to a higher expectation of increasing stock prices and willingness to buy. The effect on willingness to buy is greater than the expected increase in stock prices. The effect on women is greater than on men. Individuals who prefer the environment (women’s empowerment) are more willing to buy pro-environment (gender-balanced) stocks when they have peer information. The effect of peer information is greater for individuals with warm-glow motivations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Malaysian motorists’ willingness to pay for Chinese lucky plate numbers. Regression analyses reveal that the Chinese bidders are more likely to win and pay significantly more for the Chinese lucky numbers than their non-Chinese counterparts. Consistent with resale motive considerations, the non-Chinese bidders impose the same discount for unlucky numbers as their Chinese counterparts but do not pay a premium for the lucky numbers. We also document the influence of peer effects on the winning bid price. Specifically, Chinese bidders tend to pay more for the same plate numbers won by their peers in the previous auction, whereas both Chinese and non-Chinese bidders are less averse to the unlucky numbers if there are precedents of such ownership among their peers. Overall, our findings suggest that policymakers and marketers need to be sensitive to the subtle differences in the cultural cues of consumers in a multiracial society such as Malaysia.

This study aims to understand how corporate innovation is influenced by industry peers. Using panel data of Chinese listed firms from 2004 to 2019, we construct two-way fixed effect models to examine the peer effects in corporate innovation and the role of analyst coverage. The findings indicate a positive relationship between corporate innovation and industry-peer innovation. Under competitive pressure within the industry, firms tend to make similar innovation decisions to maintain their competitive advantage. Additionally, analyst coverage exerts pressure on firms and enhances peer effects in innovation. Using net analyst coverage as a proxy variable, we mitigate endogeneity concerns and find significant results. Finally, heterogeneity analysis shows firm size, ownership and profitability significantly influence the industry peer effect on innovation. This study clarifies the association between analyst coverage and industry peer effects in corporate innovation, offering insights for promoting and implementing innovative strategies.

The communal nature of religion suggests peer effects exist in religiosity, potentially through positive spillovers in religious participation and social formation of religious beliefs. Using seven measures of religiosity, we estimate positive and negative peer effects in each case using peer group composition. We use a simultaneous equation model to account for self-selection into religious peer groups, and while we find positive peer effects are insignificant, there are significant negative peer effects operating through non-religious friends. This suggests peers affect social formation of religious beliefs, rather than through positive spillovers in religious participation.