Do People Know Who Knows? Evidence from Advice Networks

Diego Marino-Fages ()
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Diego Marino-Fages: University of Durham
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Diego Raul Marino Fages

No 2026_08, Department of Economics Working Papers from Durham University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Do people seek advice from objectively more knowledgeable peers? I study this question using network data from a survey experiment (N = 1,162), linked to university administrative records and a public graduation registry. Respondents named advice contacts and hangout contacts, allowing me to compare advice-seeking ties with ordinary social ties in the same en vironment. Respondents with higher financial and economic literacy receive disproportionately more advice nominations than hangout nominations. A similar advice-hangout pattern appears for graduation status among registry-matched contacts. Within the same respondent’s network, advice contacts are also more literate and more likely to have graduated than hangout contacts. The advice-hangout literacy difference is largest among lower-literacy respondents. The results suggest that advice networks reveal expertise recognition beyond ordinary social proximity.

Keywords: advice networks; expertise; financial literacy; social networks; Argentina (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D83 D85 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
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