TY - JOUR T1 - Peers, Pressure, and Performance at the National Spelling Bee JF - Journal of Human Resources JO - J Hum Resour SP - 265 LP - 285 DO - 10.3368/jhr.48.2.265 VL - 48 IS - 2 AU - Jonathan Smith Y1 - 2013/03/31 UR - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/48/2/265.abstract N2 - This paper investigates how individuals’ performances of a cognitive task in a high-pressure competition are affected by their peers’ performances. To do so, I use novel data from the National Spelling Bee, in which students attempt to spell words correctly in a tournament setting. Across OLS and instrumental variables approaches, I find that when the immediate predecessor is correct, a speller has a 13 to 64 percent greater probability of making a mistake, relative to the predecessor being incorrect. There is no evidence that the effect differs by gender and marginal evidence that it differs by experience. ER -