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Friends or Family? Revisiting the Effects of High School Popularity on Adult Earnings

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  • Jason Fletcher

Abstract

Recent evidence has suggested that popularity during high school is linked with wages during mid-life using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The results were shown to be robust to a large set of individual-level heterogeneity included completed schooling, cognitive ability, and personality measures. This paper revisits this question by first replicating the results using an alternative dataset that is very similar in structure. Like the previous results, the Add Health baseline effects suggest that an additional high school friendship nomination is linked to a 2% increase in earnings around age 30. However, leveraging the unique sibling structure of the Add Health shows that sibling comparisons eliminate any associations between popularity and earnings. The findings suggest that families, rather than friends, may be the cause of the association.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Fletcher, 2013. "Friends or Family? Revisiting the Effects of High School Popularity on Adult Earnings," NBER Working Papers 19232, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19232
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    1. Fletcher, Jason M., 2013. "The effects of personality traits on adult labor market outcomes: Evidence from siblings," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 122-135.
    2. Kata Mihaly, 2009. "Do More Friends Mean Better Grades? Student Popularity and Academic Achievement," Working Papers WR-678, RAND Corporation.
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    Cited by:

    1. Calvano, Emilio & Immordino, Giovanni & Scognamiglio, Annalisa, 2022. "What drives segregation? Evidence from social interactions among students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Green, Colin P. & Wilson, Luke B. & Zhang, Anwen, 2023. "Beauty, underage drinking, and adolescent risky behaviours," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 153-166.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

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