What price beauty?
Economists have developed several models to account for racial and gender discrimination in labor markets. But what about beauty? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Dan Hamermesh has written a number of papers investigating the impact of beauty on various labor market outcomes. Among his findings: Below-average looking men get paid about 9% less than plain looking men and above-average looking men get paid about 5% more than plain looking men. A similar wage penalty appears for below-average looking women and wage premium for above-average looking women. What's going on here? Are employers discriminating against ugly people? Hamermesh also finds that beautiful people sort themselves into different types of jobs compared to ugly people.
Following Hamermesh, a recent paper by Mocan and Tekin (kudos to Mahalanobis) argues that ugly people are more likely to sort themselves into a life of crime. Why do you suppose ugly people are more likely to end up as criminals? Does this mean that one way to reduce crime is to subsidize plastic surgery? (LOL)
1 comment:
As sad as it is to admit it, beauty= $$$$, and lots of it. Granted, brains can get one fairly far, but you would be AMAZED at what looks can do. Take Jessica Simpson as a prime example. The girl, God love her, was dumb as a box of rocks, but what made her show, The Newlyweds, so popular? She was gorgeous, that's what! Not to mention, when one has money they are able to invest in their looks to continue to look attractive. From plastic surgery to unlimited amounts of cosmetics, beauty is $$$ and if you are the smartest person for the job but are not the best looking one, you are likely to get booted due to mere physical attributes.
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