Occupational interactions and income level: a social capital study using the first-order difference method

This study aims to explore the impact of social resources within the workplace on individuals' income level among Chinese urban residents, using data provided by JSNET2009. To adequately address the endogeneity problem, we use the first-order difference method to help identify analysis models. The results indicate that: (1) both internal and outward interactions have positive effects on income level; (2) the effect of outward interactions is stronger than that of internal interactions; (3) the effect of outward interactions is stronger in the state-owned sector in comparison with the private sector. Our findingscontribute to the understandings of the causal effect of social capital.