Beauty and the business: Facial attractiveness and entrepreneurship

We examine the relationship between facial attractiveness and entrepreneurship in China using survey data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). To address the endogeneity of attractiveness, we employ an instrumental variable (IV) strategy. The estimates show that a one-standard-deviation increase in interviewer-assessed attractiveness raises the probability of becoming an entrepreneur by 4.6 percentage points. The findings are robust to a battery of robustness checks. Mechanism analyses indicate that attractiveness facilitates entrepreneurship by enhancing entrepreneurial skills, easing access to finance, and increasing risk preference. The effect is stronger among individuals with lower human capital or those facing tighter institutional constraints. Furthermore, we find that attractiveness leads to better business outcomes, including being an employer entrepreneur and earning higher business profits.