Beautiful people ‘likely to earn more money’

The West Australian:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is only skin deep.

The list of adages goes on and on, but a new book written by an economics professor at the University of Texas-Austin says beauty brings many real benefits.

Daniel S. Hamermesh has studied the economics of beauty for about 20 years. In Beauty Pays he writes that attractive people enjoy many advantages while those who are less attractive often face discrimination.

Using his research and worldwide studies he’s collected, Hamermesh notes that beautiful people are likely to be happier, earn more money, get a bank loan with a lower interest rate and marry a good-looking and highly educated spouse.

So what defines beauty? A symmetrical face generally is considered beautiful, Hamermesh says. Other factors, such as expression and “overall gestalt”, are in the mix but are difficult to measure.

In his book, Hamermesh says that better-looking employees are more productive, leading to higher sales and potentially higher profit.

Read the whole story: The West Australian