 The heterogeneity of beauty premium in China: Evidence from CFPSLangchuan Peng, Xi Wang and Shanshan Ying Economic Modelling, 2020, vol. 90, issue C, 386-396 Abstract: Using a nationwide representative sample of the Chinese population, we examine the effect of physical appearance on the hourly wage. Our theoretical framework that connects physical appearance and the hourly wage has two predictions. First, the beauty premium is larger for high-skilled workers than for low-skilled workers. Second, this statistical-based discrimination arises from the hiring manager’s belief that beauty contributes to productivity through non-cognitive skills. Empirical results confirm both predictions. Good-looking individuals earn roughly 5.4% more than the rest, and bad-looking individuals earn roughly 3.3% less than the rest. Moreover, quantile estimates show that the effect of physical appearance at the 0.75 quantile is more than twice as the one at the 0.25 quantile. Finally, social skills, communication skills, and self-confidence are three transmission channels through which physical appearance can positively affect one’s hourly wage in our sample. Our findings imply that the beauty premium is widespread in the labor market and relevant anti-discrimination regulations are needed. Keywords: Beauty; Discrimination; Hourly wage; Heterogeneity; Transmission channel (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:90:y:2020:i:c:p:386-396 DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2019.12.014 Access Statistics for this article Economic Modelling is currently edited by S. Hall and P. Pauly More articles in Economic Modelling from Elsevier |
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