Facebook's data reveals economic relationship between users
theverge.com
theverge.com
They didn't indicate if the effect goes both ways.
Are rich kids with poor friends more likely to slide on the economic ladder than rich kids who are isolated to neighborhoods with only other rich kids?
That seems like an important aspect of the system to understand.
I've seen the opposite, anecdotally. The rich kids who hang out with other rich kids often get into economic competition trying to out-do each other with more and more elaborate toys. The spending arms race pretty much bankrupts some of them. The smarter ones get lucky when they spend on assets that actually rise in value like, say, a beach house. The dumb ones buy boats or cars and crash them.