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

Seung Chan Ahn () and Young Hoon Lee
Additional contact information
Seung Chan Ahn: Department of Economics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-9801, U.S.A & Department of Economics, Sogang University, Seoul

No 1119, Working Papers from Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy)

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.

JEL-codes: J3 J7 L8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2011, Revised 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://tinyurl.com/yo3cxsjb First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: BEAUTY AND PRODUCTIVITY: THE CASE OF THE LADIES PROFESSIONAL GOLF ASSOCIATION (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sgo:wpaper:1119

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