Looking at records from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, they have found evidence that shorter men are 20 to 30 percent more likely to end up in prison than their taller counterparts, and that obesity and physical [un]attractiveness are linked to crime.So why are short, overweight, unattractive people more likely to commit crimes? Possibly because the job market is not very kind:
very inch of additional height is associated with a nearly 2 percent increase in earnings; that employees rated beautiful tended to earn 5 percent more an hour than an average-looking person, while those rated as plain earned 9 percent less; that obesity can cause a drop in white women’s earnings.
So how tall is tall and is it also true for women?
women who are shorter than average and men who are somewhat taller than average, but not among the tallest, enjoy significant wage advantages.
It matters so much that people on dating websites lie about it:
Height matters so much to people that the majority of both men and women who use online dating sites lie about it ( 1 in 1.81 (55%) men, 1 in 1.95 (51%) women).
Apparently, for a good reason:
Taller men tend to be higher achievers. Malcolm Gladwell reported in his book Blink that CEOs of Fortune 500 companies averaged 6 feet tall, more than 2 inches higher than the national average for American men. This same select set of power brokers would rather be bald than short, according to an unscientific USA Today survey. Only two US Presidents have been below average in height.
So is the increased income and success due to just employer bias for the attractive? No. Sadly teacher bias exists as well:
Including personality and grooming, the effect of physical attractiveness turns negative for both groups, but is only statistically significant for males. For male and female students, being very well groomed is associated with a statistically significant GPA premium.
The Gallup data suggest it would take a 29% increase in income to have the same effect on men's life satisfaction as moving from below-average to above-average height. Alternatively, each additional inch of height has the same effect on reported life satisfaction as a 4% increase in family income.
It gets even more surprising:
Taller people are happier, at least on average. According to recent data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index study, taller people are more satisfied with their lives than shorter people are; are more likely to report experiencing several positive emotions such as enjoyment and happiness; and are less likely to report experiencing negative emotions such as anger, sadness, stress, and worry. Taller people are also less likely to report experiencing physical pain.
And even more surprising:
Taller people have "better" marital outcomes
These effects are so significant, that my previous post on an efficient height tax seems a little less ridiculous. Especially when you consider why employers and teachers seem to be bias towards the tall and attractive:
Since biologists believe that 80 percent of height is determined by genetics and 20 percent by environmental conditions, height — and sometimes weight — can be an index of childhood nutrition, health care and exposure to disease. Thus smaller stature may be a sign of an impoverished upbringing.
It's well known that the poor and sick tend to do worse in school and in the workplace. It seems the reason for this correlation is partly human preference for the attractive. Mostly however, being tall, dark, and handsome tends correlate with other important factors like upbringing, health, and even marital satisfaction. All of these factors are fairly useful measures of productivity. So even though this is a small factor, it's still a factor. This is why I even though I'm 5' 10 and 1/4", I round up to 5' 11". The fact that I am thin makes for a helpful optical illusion. Also good news, thanks to my supermodel wife, my children will be the ideal height.
Update: It also gets you a better prison sentence.
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