Do girl peers improve your academic performance?

- This paper examines gender peer effects on students' academic performance.
- It exploits the random assignment of students to classes within a school.
- A higher share of female peers in the classroom improves students' academic performance, especially for boys.

I study gender peer effects on students' academic performance in China by exploiting the random within-grade-by-school variation in the share of females in the classroom. I find a higher share of girl peers improves students' academic performance, especially for boys.