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Is the beauty premium accessible to all? An experimental analysis

Angela Cristiane Santos Póvoa, Wesley Pech, Juan José Camou Viacava and Marcos Tadeu Schwartz

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2020, vol. 78, issue C

Abstract: We conducted a trust game experiment to investigate whether women are trusted more when they wear makeup than when they do not. Facial attractiveness, which was manipulated through the application of makeup by a professional makeup artist, was measured before and after makeovers. Trustors were shown a photograph of their female counterparts before they made decisions about money transfers to trustees. The results showed that wearing makeup increased perceived attractiveness, which in turn led trustors to make larger transfers to female trustees during the trust game. Additionally, we discovered a pure makeup premium that was mediated by gender. Specifically, female trustees with makeup received larger transfers than female trustees without makeup when the trustors were men, even after controlling for female trustees’ levels of attractiveness.

Keywords: Trust; Trust game; Makeup; Beauty premium; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C71 C91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s016748702030009x

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2020.102252

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