"Beauty as an Economic Variable: Impacts in the Labor Market and
on Goods and Services"
BY: RUTH HELENA DWECK
Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA)
Directory of Macroeconomic Policy and Studies
(DEMAC)
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=159696
Other Electronic Document Delivery:
http://www.ipea.gov.br/pub/td/td0618.pdf
SSRN only offers technical support for papers
downloaded from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection
location. When URLs wrap, you must copy and paste
them into your browser eliminating all spaces.
Paper ID: Institute for Applied Economic Research Discussion
Paper No. 618
Date: January 1999
Contact: RUTH HELENA DWECK
Email: Mailto:ruthdweck at ipea.gov.br
Postal: Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA)
Directory of Macroeconomic Policy and Studies
(DEMAC)
Av Presidente Antonio Carlos 51
10 andar
Centro
Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20020-010 BRAZIL
Phone: 55 21 2121190
Fax: 55 21 2401920
Note: Downloadable paper is in Portuguese.
ABSTRACT:
This study analyses the evolution of the workers' profile in
personal esthetics and hygiene in Brazil, during the 1985/95
period, taking as reference the results of some empirical
researches done during the previous decade in the US. Such
researches emphasize the influence of the "beauty" in the labor
market of this segment, transforming it in an important economic
variable, which was the main reason for the modernization of
this segment, with positive reflexes in the occupational
structure.
It can be argued that this movement, which led to the growth
of activities related to beauty, observed in the American
society at the end of the 70's and the beginning of the 80's,
occurred in the last decade in Brazil. The result was the
sophistication and modernization of the related products and
services. However, since these services are highly personal,
such technological evolution did not reduce the employment,
instead, it doubled the people working in beauty activities and
improved its profile during the studied period.
JEL Classification: L8