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Childhood friendships can shape aspirations, career paths

The more connections between the rich and poor, the better the neighbourhood is at lifting children from poverty

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Over the last four decades, the financial circumstances into which children have been born have increasingly determined where they have ended up as adults.
But an expansive new study, based on billions of social media connections, has uncovered a powerful exception to that pattern that helps explain why certain places offer a path out of poverty.
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