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Tall or taller, pretty or prettier: is discrimination absolute or relative?

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  • Daniel Hamermesh

Abstract

Using microeconomic data sets from the United States and the Netherlands, this study considers how agents perceive characteristics that are discriminated against. It uses the examples of beauty and height to examine whether: 1) Absolute or relative differences in a characteristic affect labor-market and other outcomes; and 2) The effects of a characteristic change when all agents acquire more of it. Decision-makers seem to respond more to absolute than to relative differences among individuals. Weaker results show that an increase in the mean of a characteristic’s distribution does not alter market responses to differences in it. Copyright Hamermesh; licensee Springer. 2012

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  • Daniel Hamermesh, 2012. "Tall or taller, pretty or prettier: is discrimination absolute or relative?," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izalbr:v:1:y:2012:i:1:p:1-17:10.1186/2193-8997-1-2
    DOI: 10.1186/2193-8997-1-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie Coffey & Amy Ellen Schwartz, 2021. "Towering Intellects? Sizing Up the Relationship Between Height and Academic Success," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 244, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    2. Thompson, Kristina & Portrait, France & Schoonmade, Linda, 2023. "The height premium: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Lee, Wang-Sheng, 2014. "Big and Tall: Is there a Height Premium or Obesity Penalty in the Labor Market?," IZA Discussion Papers 8606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Doorley, Karina & Sierminska, Eva, 2012. "Myth or Fact? The Beauty Premium across the Wage Distribution," IZA Discussion Papers 6674, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Mathieu Bunel & Jean-Pascal Guironnet, 2017. "Income inequalities for recently graduated French workers: a multilevel modeling approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 755-778, September.
    6. Tom Lane, 2020. "Along which identity lines does 21st-century Britain divide? Evidence from Big Brother," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(2), pages 197-222, May.
    7. Peng, Langchuan & Wang, Xi & Ying, Shanshan, 2020. "The heterogeneity of beauty premium in China: Evidence from CFPS," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 386-396.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    JEL codes; J71; J78; Beauty; Height; Discrimination; Market responses;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

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