Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Popularity Pays Off

According to a study I've been reading, popularity in high school positively correlates with higher wages later in life. Specifically, one additional friendship nomination in high school is associated with a 2% higher wage 35 years later. This is equivalent to almost half the gain from an extra year of education. Shifting someone from the bottom fifth to the top fifth of the school popularity distribution would be predicted to yield him a 10% wage advantage.

Why? I'm guessing strong leadership skills and persuasive powers, especially developed so early in life, are at play here. Any thoughts?

via Barking Up the Wrong Tree (via Economix)

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