Team Study and Human Capital Development

王春超，暨南大学伯明翰大学联合学院院长、暨南大学经济学院经济学系主任、珠江学者特聘教授、博士生导师，国家社科基金重大项目首席专家。北京大学博士后、牛津大学访问学者、哈佛大学Rajawali Fellow，兼任广东经济学会副会长、广东省本科高校经济学类专业教学指导委员会秘书长、广州市重大行政决策论证专家。
主要研究劳动经济学、发展经济学、农村经济学。在人民出版社出版专著1部。在国外Journal of Comparative Economics、Journal of Macromarketing和国内《经济研究》、《管理世界》、《社会学研究》等重要学术期刊发表论文90多篇。主持国家社科基金项目、国家自然科学基金项目、国家自然科学基金-英国文化协会国际合作交流项目、国家软科学研究项目等国家及省部级科研项目18项，荣获高等学校科学研究优秀成果（人文社会科学）专著奖、中国农村发展研究奖（提名奖）等省部级科研奖励7项、省厅级科研奖励8项。
荣获全国高校青年教师教学竞赛二等奖、广东省高校青年教师教学竞赛一等奖（第一名），广东省教育教学成果（高等教育）一等奖（第一完成人）。荣获霍英东青年教师奖、广东省五一劳动奖章、广东省“南粤优秀教师”、北京大学优秀博士后、广东省首届青年文化英才。
 

A large body of literature concentrates on peer effects and the skill development of children. However, only a few studies identify the causal effects of study teams on children’s development in terms of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. This study analyzes the dynamics of human capital induced by study teams in a field experiment.
In a rural county in China, we randomly select classes in primary schools and form small study teams within the treatment classes. We find that the act of forming study teams alone can increase students’ academic (cognitive) performance and personality (non-cognitive skills) in the dimensions of conscientiousness, extroversion, openness, and neuroticism, whereas agreeableness decreases. These changes in personality traits may reflect positive changes in the attitudes of students toward cooperation and competition. Our mechanism test suggests that improvement in non-cognitive skills and better in-class discipline are working mechanism to improve academic performance.