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Friendship Networks and Political Opinions

Author

Listed:
  • Algan, Yann

    (HEC Paris)

  • Dalvit, Nicolò

    (World Bank)

  • Do, Quoc-Anh

    (Monash University)

  • Le Chapelain, Alexis

    (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) - Department of Economics)

  • Zenou, Yves

    (Monash University - Department of Economics; Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IUI); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Stockholm University)

Abstract

We examine how social interactions and friendships shape students' political opinions in a natural experiment at Sciences Po, a leading French university specializing in social and political sciences. The quasi-random assignment of students into short-term integration groups before their academic curriculum reduces political opinion gaps and fosters friendship formation. Using same-group membership as an instrumental variable for friendship, we find that friendship reduces opinion differences by 40% of a standard deviation in the opinion gap. Our evidence supports a homophily-enforced mechanism: friendships form among initially politically similar students, leading them to join political associations together, reinforcing their similarity. However, friendship does not significantly influence politically dissimilar pairs. Instead, it reduces opinion divergence without enforcing ideological convergence.

Suggested Citation

  • Algan, Yann & Dalvit, Nicolò & Do, Quoc-Anh & Le Chapelain, Alexis & Zenou, Yves, 2025. "Friendship Networks and Political Opinions," HEC Research Papers Series 1556, HEC Paris.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:heccah:1556
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5184305
    as

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political opinion; social networks; friendship effect; polarization; homophily; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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