Tall People Make More Money?

In an article written by Steven E. Landsburg called "Short Changed: Why do tall people make more money?", Landsburg discusses the economic side of being tall versus being short. In the article, I was shocked to read that studies have found that an extra inch of height can mean up to $1000 more in income. Also, if you are 6 feet tall, you probably earn more than someone of average to below average height, say around 5 foot 6 inches tall. Landsburg gives an example to back up his claims when he compares the heights of all of the United States presidents. He states, "Of 43 American presidents, only five have been more than a smidgeon below average height, and the last of those was Benjamin Harrison, elected in 1888. (Another three, most recently Jimmy Carter, were just a hair below average.) Most presidents have been several inches above the norm for their times, with the five tallest being Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin Roosevelt, suggesting, incidentally, that height predicts not just electoral success but a propensity to subvert the Constitution." So if it really is true that more height means more money, what could be the cause? Well, three economists explored this subject and found some interesting results. It was first hypothesized that tall people made more money because they had a higher self-esteem than short people. The economists also found that, "Tall men who were short in high school earn like short men, while short men who were tall in high school earn like tall men." This finding rules out discrimination as one of the causes and leaves self-esteem. In the study done by the economists, they concluded that self esteem in the high school years has a dramatic impact on future earnings. They stated that, "Height at age 7 or 11 turns out to have no impact at all on future wages. But height at age 16 makes all the difference in the world." This is because once self-esteem is learned, it lasts a lifetime. Therefore, because tall teens tend to have a higher self-esteem, this leads them to eventually make more money than their shorter competitor. Although they say that tall people make more money because of their self-esteems, after reading this article, I'll definitely remember to wear my tall shoes on my next job interview.