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Plastic Surgery: Investment in Human Capital or Consumption?

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  • Soohyung Lee
  • Keunkwan Ryu

Abstract

Beauty has been shown to be valuable in many markets and supposedly can be improved through plastic surgery. This raises the question of how effective plastic surgery is in improving a person's beauty and economic outcomes. We find empirical evidence that while people improve their facial beauty through plastic surgery, the associated monetary benefits from beauty premiums in labor and marriage markets are not high enough for most men and women to recover the surgery costs. This finding suggests that plastic surgery may be justified in terms of consumption rather than as investment in human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Soohyung Lee & Keunkwan Ryu, 2012. "Plastic Surgery: Investment in Human Capital or Consumption?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 224-250.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/667940
    DOI: 10.1086/667940
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Duggan, Mark, 2005. "Do new prescription drugs pay for themselves?: The case of second-generation antipsychotics," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-31, January.
    2. Berggren, Niclas & Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu, 2010. "The looks of a winner: Beauty and electoral success," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 8-15, February.
    3. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Maitreesh Ghatak & Jeanne Lafortune, 2013. "Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 33-72, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Leigh, Andrew K., 2022. "“Beauty too rich for use”: Billionaires’ assets and attractiveness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. LIU Xing & SIERMINSKA Eva, 2014. "Evaluating the effect of beauty on labor market outcomes: A review of the literature," LISER Working Paper Series 2014-11, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    3. Olivier Gergaud & Victor Ginsburgh & florine Livat, 2016. "Looking Good and Looking Smart," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2016-28, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Markus Gehrsitz, 2014. "Looks and Labor: Do Attractive People Work More?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(3), pages 269-287, September.
    5. 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).
    6. Soohyung Lee, 2015. "Beauty pays but does investment in beauty?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 198-198, September.

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