{"title":"Why Try? The Superstar Effect in Academic Performance","authors":"Hernández-Julián, Rey, Peters, Christina","doi":"10.1057/s41302-021-00197-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although the superstar effect has been documented in sports tournaments, there are few empirical tests outside sports. We estimate the impact of superstars in a classroom. We find that college students in a classroom with superior academic performers earn grades about 1% lower than when they are in classrooms without such outliers. Outliers at the bottom end of the distribution are also harmful. Since high achievers perform worse in the presence of outliers at <i>both</i> the top and low end of the academic distribution, we argue that the manipulation of incentives is the mechanism behind our estimated effect.</p>","PeriodicalId":45363,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Economic Journal","volume":"31 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Eastern Economic Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-021-00197-5","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Although the superstar effect has been documented in sports tournaments, there are few empirical tests outside sports. We estimate the impact of superstars in a classroom. We find that college students in a classroom with superior academic performers earn grades about 1% lower than when they are in classrooms without such outliers. Outliers at the bottom end of the distribution are also harmful. Since high achievers perform worse in the presence of outliers at both the top and low end of the academic distribution, we argue that the manipulation of incentives is the mechanism behind our estimated effect.
期刊介绍：
The Eastern Economic Journal, a quarterly publication of the Eastern Economic Association, was established in 1973. The EEJ publishes papers written from every perspective, in all areas of economics and is committed to free and open intellectual inquiry from diverse philosophical perspectives. It welcomes manuscripts that are methodological and philosophical as well as empirical and theoretical. Readability and general interest are major factors in publication decision.
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