Facebook data powers American inequality study by economist Raj Chetty

Facebook is sharing some of your financial secrets with the world's leading researchers. The tech giant has offered up some of its massive treasure trove of personal data to academia.

Stanford economics professor Raj Chetty has been leading a team working on an America inequality study, and in a move that's quite rare for Facebook, the company made some of its user data available, Politico reported.

SEE ALSO:Mark Zuckerberg just put his money where his mouth is — to the tune of $3 billion

This direct participation from Facebook means researchers are not just scrapping data from the social network or using publicly available posts. Rather, Facebook is disclosing actual data that may include demographic information and social interactions.

"We're using social networks, and measuring interactions there, to understand the role of social capital much better than we've been able to," Chetty said of the study in January, according to Politico.

Chetty's team has been working on it for at least six months. In fact, he teased a partnership with Facebook on Freakonomics Radio back in January 2017.

"I’m starting a project with my colleague Matt Jackson here at Stanford, and others at Facebook, where we’re exploring the role of social networks in inequality, and trying to understand essentially whether you can network yourself out of poverty," Chetty said.

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Facebook and Chetty did not disclose to Politico was data exactly is being made available. But a source familiar with the matter told Politico that it had been stripped of personal information that could identify individuals and that anyone with access to the data had to undergo security screenings.

Facebook's involvement in the academic study is important not only for its rarity but in the potential findings.

“The notion that you can use data about people’s social interactions and begin to piece together, ‘OK, what is social isolation actually costing us?’ is a whole other ballgame," Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama, told Politico.

Economic inequality is a passion project for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's (CZI), his philanthropic organization, mission is "advancing human potential and promoting equality," according to its Facebook Page.

Zuckerberg spoke of his own economic advantage in his commencement address at Harvard University last year.

"If I had to support my family growing up instead of having time to code, if I didn't know I'd be fine if Facebook didn't work out, I wouldn't be standing here today. If we're honest, we all know how much luck we've had," Zuckerberg said.

Solutions aren't easy, but Zuckerberg shared some ideas in that speech back in May. He noted the potential of universal basic income, where individuals receive a sum from the government to cover living expenses, and he also mentioned the power of the privileged.

"Giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn't free. People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too," Zuckerberg said.

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