LISER, Luxembourg, and DIW Berlin and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author
Current position
Research Economist, LISER, Luxembourg
Research interest
Labor economics, population economics
Website
Past positions
Research Economist, CPES/INSTEAD Research Institute, 2007–2015
Qualifications
PhD Economics, John Hopkins University, 2003
Selected publications
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“Myth of fact? The beauty premium across the wage distribution in Germany.” Economics Letters 129 (2015) (with K. Doorley).
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“Cross-national differences in wealth portfolios at the intensive margin: Is there a role for polcies?” Research on Economic Inequality 22 (2014) (with K. Doorley).
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“Wealth distribution within couples.” Review of the Economics of the Household 11:4 (2013) (with M. Grabka and J. Marcus).
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“Job flows, demographics and the great recession.” Research in Labor Economics 32 (2011) (with Y. Takhtamanova).
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“Examining the gender wealth gap.” Oxford Economic Papers 62:4 (2010): 669–690 (with J. Frick and M. Grabka).
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Does it pay to be beautiful?
Physically attractive people can earn more, particularly in customer-facing jobs, and the rewards for men are higher than for women
Eva Sierminska, June 2015It is a well-established view amongst economists that good-looking people have a better chance of employment and can earn more than those who are less physically attractive. A “beauty premium” is particularly apparent in jobs where there is a productivity gain associated with good looks, though this is different for women and men, and varies across countries. People also sort into occupations according to the relative returns to their physical characteristics; good-looking people take jobs where physical appearance is deemed important while less-attractive people steer away from them, or they are required to be more productive for the same wage.MoreLess