The Long-Term Impacts of Mixing the Rich and Poor: Evidence from Conscript Dorms

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Einio, Elias
• 署名单位: VATT Institute for Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20240173
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Random assignment; social networks; peer; outcomes; opportunity

摘要

To what extent is economic success determined by with whom individuals interact socially? We tackle this question by exploiting a large-scale natural experiment in the Finnish conscription. Our research design is based on the alphabetization of dorms, which is shown to induce as good as random variation in peer composition. Dormmates from high-income families have a positive impact on earnings, with the largest effect among individuals from high-income families. For them, a one standard deviation increase in dormmates' parental income increases long-term earnings by 5.7 percent. The results support labor market networks among the rich as the key mechanism. ( (JEL D12, D31, G51, I32, J31, J45)