The College Admissions Contribution to the Labor Market Beauty Premium

Ong, David (2020): The College Admissions Contribution to the Labor Market Beauty Premium. Forthcoming in: Contemporary Economic Policy (July 2022)

Abstract

Beautiful people earn more. Surprisingly, this premium is larger for men than for women and is independent of the degree of customer contact. Overlooked is the possibility that beauty can influence college admissions. We explore this potential academic contributor to the labor market beauty earnings premium by sampling 1,800 social media profiles of alumni from universities ranked from 1 to 200 in China and the US. Chinese universities use only standardized test scores for admissions. In contrast, US universities use also grades and extracurricular activities, which are not necessarily beauty-blind. Consistent with beauty-blind admissions, alumni’s beauty is uncorrelated with the rank of the college attended in China. In the US, White men from high-ranked colleges are better-looking. The correlation is insignificant for White men who attended tech colleges and is highest for those who attended private colleges. White women and minorities of either gender are not better-looking at high-ranked colleges. Our evidence suggests a college admissions contribution to the labor market beauty premium for White men but not for White women, minorities of either gender, White men who attended a technical college in the US, or alumni of either gender in China. We discuss how the prevalent college admissions preference for athletes can explain our findings.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: beauty premium, labor market discrimination, college admissions, college athletics
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I24 - Education and Inequality; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I26 - Returns to Education; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination

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