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Productivity or Discrimination? Beauty and the Exams

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  • Giam Pietro Cipriani

    () (Dipartimento di Scienze economiche (Università di Verona))

  • Angelo Zago

    () (Dipartimento di Scienze economiche (Università di Verona))

Abstract

Do good looks make people more productive? An impact of looks on earnings has been found in the empirical literature: plain people earn less than average-looking people who earn less than the good-looking. However, an important question remains unanswered: is the impact of beauty due to pure discrimination or productivity? We provide evidence against the hypothesis of Becker-type discrimination stemming from tastes and in favor of productivity-related discrimination.

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File URL: http://dse.univr.it/RePEc/ver/Wpaper/WP18.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Verona, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 18.

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Length: 26
Date of creation: May 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ver:wpaper:18

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Keywords: Physical appearance; discrimination; productivity.;

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References

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  1. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Biddle, Jeff E, 1994. "Beauty and the Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1174-94, December.
  2. Bénabou, Roland & Tirole, Jean, 2002. "Self Confidence and Personal Motivation," Open Access publications from University of Toulouse 1 Capitole http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.
  3. Pfann, Gerard A. & Biddle, Jeff E. & Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Bosman, Ciska M., 2000. "Business success and businesses' beauty capital," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 201-207, May.
  4. Andreoni,J. & Petrie,R., 2004. "Beauty, gender and stereotypes : evidence from laboratory experiments," Working papers 6, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
  5. Heckman, James J., 2000. "Policies to foster human capital," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 3-56, March.
  6. Melissa Osborne & Herbert Gintis & Samuel Bowles, 2001. "The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1137-1176, December.
  7. Susan Averett & Sanders Korenman, 1996. "The Economic Reality of the Beauty Myth," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(2), pages 304-330.
  8. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2003. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height," PIER Working Paper Archive 03-036, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
  9. Daniel Hamermesh & Amy M. Parker, 2003. "Beauty in the Classroom: Professors' Pulchritude and Putative Pedagogical Productivity," NBER Working Papers 9853, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  10. Mobius, Markus & Rosenblat, Tanya, 2010. "Why Beauty Matters," Staff General Research Papers 32112, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  11. Daniele CHECCHI & Gabriella PRAVETTONI, 2003. "Self-esteem and educational attainment," Departmental Working Papers 2003-30, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
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Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. The beauty tyranny
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-08-02 13:26:39
  2. Looks, politicians & rational voters
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-10-05 13:52:16
  3. The economics of Susan Boyle
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-04-26 11:42:49
  4. Lindsay Tanner Goes Gaga Over Susan Boyle
    by Jonathan Boymal in Econ Amore on 2009-04-28 04:34:00
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Cited by:
  1. Hersch, Joni, 2011. "Skin color, physical appearance, and perceived discriminatory treatment," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 671-678.
  2. Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2012. "A Matter of Weight? The Role of Spouses. Physical Attractiveness on Hours of Work," CHILD Working Papers Series 7, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
  3. Claudia Sanhueza & Rodrigo Bravo & Oscar Giusti, 2008. "La Belleza y su Efecto en el Mercado Laboral: Evidencia para Chile," ILADES-Georgetown University Working Papers inv204, Ilades-Georgetown University, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Bussines.
  4. Feess,Eberhard & Muehlheusser,Gerd & Walzl,Markus, 2004. "Unfair Contests," Research Memoranda 050, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization.
  5. Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2012. "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Teaching Evaluations, Beauty And Abilities," Working Papers 201204, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Statistiche e Finanziarie (Ex Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica).
  6. Vasilios Kosteas, 2012. "The Effect of Exercise on Earnings: Evidence from the NLSY," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 225-250, June.

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