Suppose that you were fortunate enough to be born beautiful. You’ll be able to date, sleep with, and marry pretty much whoever you want. People, especially those of the opposite sex, will be happy to listen to you prattle on about whatever you’d like to talk about, whether or not you’ve studied the subject. As a consequence of your beauty, you’ll earn between 5 and 12 percent more money (example study).
With improved medical technology, however, ugly people have been gradually gaining some options for closing the gap. By working harder and saving some money, a plain or old-looking person can visit a plastic surgeon and improve his or her romantic, social, and career prospects.
Now the federal government proposes to further hobble the unattractive by taxing cosmetic surgery (nytimes). Could this be the unkindest cut of all?
According to one study summarized in the Economist ( http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311266 ), the ROI on cosmetic surgery/makeup/clothing is only about $0.15 on every $1.
“Working in Shanghai, where the difference between the ugliness penalty and the beauty bonus was greatest, he looked at how women’s spending on their cosmetics and clothes affected their income. The answer was that it did, but not enough to pay for itself in a strictly financial sense. He estimates that the beauty premium generated by such primping is worth only 15% of the money expended”
Richard: for those of us who aren’t subscribers, do you have a link to the underlying paper or anything else?
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Hamermesh/Beautystuff.html
This seems to be a full text copy (found by googling a part of Richard’s quotation): http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/254161/
People will listen to you even if you’re an idiot? That’s an interesting benefit – perhaps not a benefit at all.
I think we generally respect one who works hard to become knowledgeable or intelligent more than one who is born privileged or just naturally smart.
So, why don’t we respect those who work to become beautiful as much, if not more than those who are born that way?
@Soren: “So, why don’t we respect those who work to become beautiful as much, if not more than those who are born that way?”
Perhaps because the ideal of beauty is presupposed to be an indicator of genetic fitness – body symmetry, reproductive capacity, et cetera – and the concept of altering one’s appearance to forge attractiveness has the feel of deceiving potential mates (thence passing on less-fit-than-advertised genes) ..?
(Also, I don’t see where those who work to become knowledgeable deserve any more respect than those born privileged to information or naturally smart – so long as all are sharing their knowledge)