标题： 同志与事业：同伴影响西点军校学员内战忠诚度 显示英文标题

标题： Comrades and Cause: Peer Influence on West Point Cadets' Civil War Allegiances

摘要： 社会网络和同伴影响在高度极化的环境中会塑造重大的人生决定吗？ 我们通过考察同伴如何影响西点军校学员在美国南北战争期间的忠诚度来探讨这个问题。 利用来自自由州的学员比例的准随机变化，我们分析了这些差异如何影响他们选择加入哪支军队。 我们发现，来自自由州的同学比例较高显著增加了来自蓄奴州的学员加入联邦军队的可能性，而几乎所有的来自自由州的学员（如果他们决定参战）都加入了联邦军队。 我们进一步研究了学员的决定如何影响他们的军衔和职业结果。 我们的研究结果表明，即使在极端极化时期做出重大人生决定时，同伴仍然会影响选择。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Do social networks and peer influence shape major life decisions in highly polarized settings? We explore this question by examining how peers influenced the allegiances of West Point cadets during the American Civil War. Leveraging quasi-random variations in the proportion of cadets from Free States, we analyze how these differences affected decisions about which army to join. We find that a higher proportion of classmates from Free States significantly increased the likelihood that cadets from Slave States joined the Union Army, while almost all cadets from Free States joined the Union Army (if they decided to join the war). We further examine how cadets' decisions affected their military rank and career outcomes. Our findings highlight that peers still influence choices even when they are life-altering and occur during periods of extreme polarization.