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Beauty and Productivity:The Case of the Ladies Professional Golf Association

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  • Seung Chan Ahn

    (Department of Economics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-9801, U.S.A & Department of Economics, Sogang University, Seoul)

  • Young Hoon Lee

    (Department of Economics, Sogang University, Seoul)

Abstract

There is much evidence that attractive looking workers earn more than average-looking workers, even after controlling for a variety of individual characteristics. The presence of such beauty premiums may influence the labor supply decisions of attractive workers. For example, if one unit of a product by an attractive worker is more rewarded than that by her less attractive coworker, the attractive worker may put more effort into improving her productivity. We examine this possibility by analyzing panel data for individual female golfers participating in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. We find that attractive golfers record lower average scores and earn more prize money than average-looking players, even when controlling for player experience and other variables related to their natural talents. This finding is consistent with the notion that physical appearance is associated with individual workers' accumulation of human capital or skills. If the human capital of attractive workers is at least partly an outcome of favoritism toward beauty, then the premium estimates obtained by many previous studies may have been downwardly biased.

Suggested Citation

  • Seung Chan Ahn & Young Hoon Lee, 2011. "Beauty and Productivity:The Case of the Ladies Professional Golf Association," Working Papers 1119, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy), revised 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:sgo:wpaper:1119
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. The Sharapova Effect
      by ? in Freakonomics on 2012-08-27 21:02:35

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    Cited by:

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    2. Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Leigh, Andrew K., 2022. "“Beauty too rich for use”: Billionaires’ assets and attractiveness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Eiji Yamamura & Ryohei Hayashi & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2022. "Racers’ attractive looks, popularity, and performance: how do speedboat racers react to fans’ expectations?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 597-623, October.
    4. Guodong Guo & Brad R. Humphreys & Qiangchang Wang & Yang Zhou, 2023. "Attractive or Aggressive? A Face Recognition and Machine Learning Approach for Estimating Returns to Visual Appearance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 737-758, August.
    5. 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.
    6. Rachel Lau & Brooke Krause, 2022. "Preferences for perceived attractiveness in modern dance," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(3), pages 483-517, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • L8 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services

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