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Why do very unattractive workers earn so much?
Satoshi Kanazawa1, Shihao Hu1, Adrien Larere1
1Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
Economics and Human Biology
|April 21, 2018
Summary
Intelligent men may prefer marrying less attractive women, potentially explaining why very unattractive individuals possess higher intelligence and education, leading to greater earnings. This preference also impacts the correlation between intelligence and attractiveness.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Human Mating Behavior
- Socioeconomic Outcomes
Background:
- Previous research indicated a wage premium for very unattractive workers, linked to higher intelligence and education, but the reasons remained unexplained.
- Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests intelligent men may exhibit a preference for marrying less physically attractive women.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hypothesis that intelligent men's mating preferences for less attractive women explain the intelligence and educational attainment of very unattractive individuals.
- To explore the relationship between female physical attractiveness, marital status, partner earnings, and offspring intelligence.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).
- Statistical examination of marital status at age 29 and partner earnings based on women's physical attractiveness levels.
Main Results:
- Very unattractive women were significantly more likely to be married by age 29 compared to unattractive or average-looking women.
- The spouses of very unattractive women earned significantly more than the spouses of unattractive or average-looking women.
Conclusions:
- A historical preference among intelligent men for marrying very unattractive women, coupled with the heritability of intelligence and attractiveness, can explain the observed educational and earning advantages of very unattractive individuals.
- This mating pattern may also account for the moderate positive correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness observed in the population.