Maybe the real treasure is the friends we make along the way

For kids in lower-income families, having wealthy friends is one of the strongest determinants of economic success later in life, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of 21 billion Facebook friendships across 72.2 million American users.

👥💻 A deeper dive… The researchers, led by Harvard economist Raj Chetty, published two papers in the peer-reviewed journal Nature this week sharing their findings.

1. The first paper found that Americans with lower incomes were more likely to improve their financial situations over time if they were connected to people with higher incomes.
2. The second paper showed that connections between high- and low-income Americans were often forged through structured social organizations like schools and religious groups. It also found most people tend to befriend peers of similar socioeconomic status, even with social exposure to other income levels.

🤔 Why can’t we be friends?... The researchers concluded that for lower income kids, having wealthy friends is a stronger indicator of future income than factors like their race, family structure, school quality, or the job availability in their local community. They also mentioned several options that could help increase the amount of cross-class friendships, including reforming zoning policies and boosting affordable housing production.