Friday, April 07, 2006

Why Height Matters

Height (which is frequently not captured in beauty variables) also produces returns in the labor market. An extra inch of height is estimated to be worth approximately $1000 a year in wages. While that's great (at least if you are me), one can't really invest in their height so who cares?

Well, it turns out one's current height doesn't appear to generate these returns. Economists Nicola Persico, Andy Postlewaite, and Dan Silverman show that it is not height today that generates higher incomes, but rather height at age 16. Boys who were tall at 16 earn more money, but boys who were short at 16 but tall at 33 don't. This suggests that height itself does not matter. Rather, adolescent experiences differ for those who are tall and these different experiences generate self-esteem, confidence, or some set of skills that are valuable in the labor market.

Steven Landsburg provides a one page summary of the paper here.

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