Bullying is a behavioral phenomenon that has received much attention in recent times. We use a structural model on a longitudinal youth survey to estimate the effects of bullying based in the identification of latent skills. We find that non-cognitive skills, unlike cognitive ones significantly reduce the chances of being bullied, being a bully and being a cyberbully during high school. The model allows us to estimate the ATE of being bullied and being a bully at age 15 on several outcomes measured at age 18. We find that bullying is not only costly for the victims. Both, victims and bullies, have negative consequences later in life. However, they differ in how non-cognitive and cognitive skills palliate or exacerbate these consequences. Finally, we explore how much investing in non cognitive skills could reduce bullying occurrence. Our findings indicate that the investment in skill development is key in any policy intended to fight bullying.

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