IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v35y2022i4d10.1007_s00148-020-00819-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

School friendship networks, homophily and multiculturalism: evidence from European countries

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Campigotto

    (University of Verona)

  • Chiara Rapallini

    (University of Florence
    GLO Network)

  • Aldo Rustichini

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of school friendship networks among adolescents, proposing a model of network formation and estimating it using a sample of about 10,000 secondary school students in four countries: England, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. We test the idea that networks arise according to homophily along many characteristics (gender, school achievement and ethnic and cultural backgrounds), and assess the relative importance of each factor. In addition to gender, we find that country of origin, generational status and religion predict friendship for foreign-born students. For individuals born in the survey country, ties depend on a broader set of factors, including socioeconomic status and school achievement. In sum, homophilic preferences go considerably beyond ethnicity. Multiculturalism, which gives prominence to ethnic backgrounds, risks emphasising the differences in that dimension at the expense of affinity in others.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Campigotto & Chiara Rapallini & Aldo Rustichini, 2022. "School friendship networks, homophily and multiculturalism: evidence from European countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1687-1722, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:35:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-020-00819-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-020-00819-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-020-00819-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-020-00819-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Currarini, Sergio & Matheson, Jesse & Vega-Redondo, Fernando, 2016. "A simple model of homophily in social networks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 18-39.
    2. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10840 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Claudia Senik & Holger Stichnoth & Karine Straeten, 2009. "Immigration and Natives’ Attitudes towards the Welfare State: Evidence from the European Social Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 345-370, May.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Murard, Elie & Rapoport, Hillel, 2019. "Immigration and Preferences for Redistribution in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 12130, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Frattini, Tommaso & Meschi, Elena, 2019. "The effect of immigrant peers in vocational schools," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-22.
    7. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    8. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Gianandrea Lanzara, 2012. "Educational achievement of second-generation immigrants: an international comparison [The economic situation of first and second-generation immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 27(69), pages 143-185.
    9. Kleibergen, Frank & Paap, Richard, 2006. "Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 97-126, July.
    10. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2000. "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 847-904.
    11. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    12. Bramoullé, Yann & Djebbari, Habiba & Fortin, Bernard, 2009. "Identification of peer effects through social networks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 41-55, May.
    13. Rapallini, Chiara & Rustichini, Aldo, 2016. "Elective affinities matter as much as ethnicity in multi-ethnic schools," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 243-262.
    14. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2011. "Robust Inference With Multiway Clustering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 238-249, April.
    15. Rapallini, Chiara & Rustichini, Aldo, 2019. "Personality and cognitive skills in network of friends, for multi-ethnic schools," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 1-14.
    16. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    17. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2009. "Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(4), pages 1239-1267.
    18. Margherita Comola & Mariapia Mendola, 2015. "Formation of Migrant Networks," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 592-618, April.
    19. Beatrice Schindler Rangvid, 2007. "Sources of Immigrants' Underachievement: Results from PISA—Copenhagen," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 293-326.
    20. Steven Goodreau & James Kitts & Martina Morris, 2009. "Birds of a feather, or friend of a friend? using exponential random graph models to investigate adolescent social networks," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(1), pages 103-125, February.
    21. Block, Per & Grund, Thomas, 2014. "Multidimensional homophily in friendship networks," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 189-212, August.
    22. Gioia De Melo, 2011. "Peer effects identified through social networks. Evidence from Uruguayan schools," Department of Economics University of Siena 627, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    23. Sergio Currarini & Matthew O. Jackson & Paolo Pin, 2009. "An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily, Minorities, and Segregation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1003-1045, July.
    24. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00977544 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Patacchini, Eleonora & Rainone, Edoardo & Zenou, Yves, 2017. "Heterogeneous peer effects in education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 190-227.
    26. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6lcb7ovms687vbos73r9r0is5g is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Fafchamps, Marcel & Gubert, Flore, 2007. "The formation of risk sharing networks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 326-350, July.
    28. Algan, Yann & Hémet, Camille & Laitin, David D., 2011. "Diversity and Public Goods: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," IZA Discussion Papers 6053, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    29. Marcel Fafchamps & Flore Gubert, 2007. "Risk Sharing and Network Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 75-79, May.
    30. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4rm8ji0nae9elbggr366la3786 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    32. Böhlmark, Anders, 2008. "Age at immigration and school performance: A siblings analysis using swedish register data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1366-1387, December.
    33. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(4), pages 465-506, December.
    34. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:27:y:2012:i:69:p:143-185 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4392 is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Xu Lin, 2010. "Identifying Peer Effects in Student Academic Achievement by Spatial Autoregressive Models with Group Unobservables," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(4), pages 825-860, October.
    37. Max Tabord-Meehan, 2019. "Inference With Dyadic Data: Asymptotic Behavior of the Dyadic-Robust t-Statistic," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 671-680, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cai, Shu & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2024. "Social identity and labor market outcomes of internal migrant workers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Tomáš Lintner & Tomáš Diviák & Klára Šeďová & Petr Hlado, 2023. "Ukrainian refugees struggling to integrate into Czech school social networks," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Campigotto, Nicola & Rapallini, Chiara & Rustichini, Aldo, 2021. "The Slippery Slope from Pluralistic to Plural Societies," GLO Discussion Paper Series 910, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2019. "Peer effects in consumption in India: An instrumental variables approach using negative idiosyncratic shocks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 122-137.
    2. Yazeed Abdul Mumin & Awudu Abdulai & Renan Goetz, 2023. "The role of social networks in the adoption of competing new technologies in Ghana," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 510-533, June.
    3. Guo, Juncong & Qu, Xi, 2022. "Competition in household human capital investments: Strength, motivations and consequences," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Bet Caeyers, 2014. "Peer effects in development programme awareness of vulnerable groups in rural Tanzania," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-11, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Fe, Hao, 2023. "Social networks and consumer behavior: Evidence from Yelp," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 1-14.
    6. Yann Algan & Quoc-Anh Do & Nicolò Dalvit & Alexis Le Chapelain & Yves Zenou, 2015. "How Social Networks Shape Our Beliefs: A Natural Experiment among Future French Politicians," Working Papers hal-03459820, HAL.
    7. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/78vacv4udu92eq3fec89svm9uv is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/78vacv4udu92eq3fec89svm9uv is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Eleonora Patacchini & Edoardo Rainone, 2017. "Social Ties and the Demand for Financial Services," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-88, October.
    10. D’Exelle, Ben & Verschoor, Arjan, 2023. "Village networks and entrepreneurial farming in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    11. Patacchini, Eleonora & Rainone, Edoardo & Zenou, Yves, 2017. "Heterogeneous peer effects in education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 190-227.
    12. Amodio, Francesco, 2019. "Crime protection investment spillovers: Theory and evidence from the City of Buenos Aires," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 626-649.
    13. Alex Centeno, 2022. "A Structural Model for Detecting Communities in Networks," Papers 2209.08380, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    14. Topa, Giorgio & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Neighborhood and Network Effects," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 561-624, Elsevier.
    15. Oleg Poldin & Diliara Valeeva & Maria Yudkevich, 2016. "Which Peers Matter: How Social Ties Affect Peer-group Effects," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 448-468, June.
    16. Bryan S. Graham, 2019. "Network Data," Papers 1912.06346, arXiv.org.
    17. Martin, Darius D. & Wright, Adam C. & Krieg, John M., 2020. "Social networks and college performance: Evidence from dining data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Fabio Landini & Natalia Montinari & Paolo Pin & Marco Piovesan, 2014. "Friendship Network in the Classroom: Parents Bias and Peer Effects," Discussion Papers 14-06, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    19. Margherita Comola & Carla Inguaggiato & Mariapia Mendola, 2021. "Learning about Farming: Innovation and Social Networks in a Resettled Community in Brazil," Development Working Papers 468, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    20. Boucher, Vincent & Fortin, Bernard, 2015. "Some Challenges in the Empirics of the Effects of Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 8896, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Patacchini, Eleonora & Arduini, Tiziano, 2016. "Residential choices of young Americans," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 69-81.
    22. Sadat Reza & Puneet Manchanda & Juin-Kuan Chong, 2021. "Identification and Estimation of Endogenous Peer Effects Using Partial Network Data from Multiple Reference Groups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 5070-5105, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Friendship; Homophily; Immigration; Networks; Social cohesion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:35:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-020-00819-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.