Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Recent evidence has suggested links between high school popularity and wages during mid-life using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. This article revisits this question by first replicating the results using an alternative dataset that is very similar in structure. Similar to 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 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.