<http://papers.nber.org/papers/W4518>
>Beauty and the Labor Market
>
>Daniel S. Hamermesh, Jeff E. Biddle
>
>NBER Working Paper No.w4518*
>Issued in November 1993
>
>---- Abstract -----
>
>We develop a theory of sorting across occupations based on looks and
>derive its implications for testing for the source of earnings
>differentials related to looks. These differentials are examined
>using the 1977 Quality of Employment, the 1971 Quality of American
>Life, and the 1981 Canadian Quality of Life surveys, all of which
>contain interviewers' ratings of the respondents' physical
>appearance. Holding constant demographic and labor-market
>characteristics, plain people earn less than people of average
>looks, who earn less than the good-looking. The penalty for
>plainness is 5 to 10 percent, slightly larger than the premium for
>beauty. The effects are slightly larger for men than women; but
>unattractive women are less likely than others to participate in the
>labor force and are more likely to be married to men with
>unexpectedly low human capital. Better-looking people sort into
>occupations where beauty is likely to be more productive; but the
>impact of individuals' looks on their earnings is mostly independent
>of occupation.
>
>*Published: American Economic Review, vol 84, Dec. 1994, pp 1174-1194