Peer effects and human capital accumulation: Time spent in college and productivity in the National Basketball Association

Abstract

Starting in 2006, the National Basketball Association (NBA) set a minimum age requirement on players declaring for the draft. Consequently, elite high school players typically spend at least 1 year playing college basketball before entering the draft. This paper seeks to test for the impact of years spent in college and peer quality on NBA performance. Additional years in college are found to have an insignificant impact on persistence in the NBA at various points post draft, a positive impact on early career performance, and a negative impact on midcareer performance, while peer quality does not have a significant impact on performance.

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