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Unpacking the Beauty Premium: What Channels Does It Operate Through, and Has It Changed Over Time?

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  • Jeff Borland
  • Andrew Leigh

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecor12091-abs-0001"> Using data from representative samples of the Australian population in 1984 and 2009, we make two main contributions to analysis of the economic returns of beauty. First, we broaden analysis of the effects of beauty beyond the labour market to examine its relation to household income. We find that beauty significantly affects total household income – via respondents' probability of employment and their hours of work and hourly wage, and whether they have a partner who contributes income to the household. Second, we examine whether the returns to beauty in Australia changed between the 1980s and 2000s. It is found that, for the most part, the effect of beauty was constant across this period. There is, however, some evidence of an increasing effect of beauty on the likelihood that a female respondent is employed, which we suggest may be due to selection effects and the growth in female workforce participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeff Borland & Andrew Leigh, 2014. "Unpacking the Beauty Premium: What Channels Does It Operate Through, and Has It Changed Over Time?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 90(288), pages 17-32, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:90:y:2014:i:288:p:17-32
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecor.2014.90.issue-288
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui, 2016. "Comparing the role of height between men and women in the marriage market," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 16-20, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    2. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Anwen Zhang, 2024. "The Economic Impact of Heritable Physical Traits: Hot Parents, Rich Kid?," NBER Working Papers 32086, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. 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).
    4. Yamamura, Eiji & Smyth, Russell & Zhang, Yan, 2015. "Decomposing the effect of height on income in China: The role of market and political channels," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-74.
    5. Doorley, Karina & Sierminska, Eva, 2012. "Myth or Fact? The Beauty Premium across the Wage Distribution," IZA Discussion Papers 6674, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Jay L Zagorsky, 2016. "Are Blondes Really Dumb?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 401-410.
    7. Doorley, Karina & Sierminska, Eva, 2015. "Myth or fact? The beauty premium across the wage distribution in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 29-34.
    8. Ahmed, Shaker & Ranta, Mikko & Vähämaa, Emilia & Vähämaa, Sami, 2023. "Facial attractiveness and CEO compensation: Evidence from the banking industry," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    9. Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Leigh, Andrew K., 2022. "“Beauty too rich for use”: Billionaires’ assets and attractiveness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Mavisakalyan, Astghik, 2018. "Do employers reward physical attractiveness in transition countries?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 38-52.
    11. Sheehan, Connor M. & Hamermesh, Daniel S., 2024. "Looks and longevity: Do prettier people live longer?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 354(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2016. "Looks matter: Attractiveness and employment in the former soviet union," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1604, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
    14. David Ong, 2022. "The college admissions contribution to the labor market beauty premium," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 491-512, July.
    15. Dilmaghani, Maryam, 2020. "Beauty perks: Physical appearance, earnings, and fringe benefits," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    16. Babin, J. Jobu & Chauhan, Haritima S. & Kistler, Steven L., 2024. "When pretty hurts: Beauty premia and penalties in eSports," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 726-741.
    17. Deryugina, Tatyana & Shurchkov, Olga, 2015. "Now you see it, now you don’t: The vanishing beauty premium," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 331-345.
    18. 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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