PARIS, Aug 2 — An analysis of 21 billion Facebook friendships shows that children from poorer homes are likely to earn more later in life if they grow up in areas where they can become friends with wealthier kids.
The researchers used an algorithm to rank users by socio-economic status, age and region, among other factors. The results were “strikingly similar”, said Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard University and the lead author of the two studies. Even if wealthy and non-wealthy students did go to the same school, however, they still might not hang out with each other — a factor the researchers called friending bias.
For example, friendships in religious institutions like churches were “much more likely to cut across class lines,” Chetty said.