Sydney, July 14 (Inditop.com) Taller men are able to earn more than their shorter counterparts simply because they are perceived as being more intelligent and powerful, according to a new study.
The study ‘Does size matter’ used newly available data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to estimate the relationship between hourly wages and two aspects of body size: height and body mass index (BMI).
It finds that taller people, particularly men, earn more money — with every five cm of height being worth about $950 per annum.
“Our estimates suggest that if the average man of about 178 cm gains an additional five cm in height, he would be able to earn an extra $950 per year — which is approximately equal to the wage gain from one extra year of labour market experience,” explained study co-author Andrew Leigh, professor, Australian National University (ANU).
The study also finds that while there are wage returns to height, there are no systematic wage penalties to having a higher body mass index (BMI), said an ANU release.
“We began the project with a primary interest in whether overweight people were paid less, but eventually realised that the most interesting thing in the data is the relationship between height and wages,” Leigh added.
These findings were published in The Economic Record.
