Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58961 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6579
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using several microeconomic data sets from the United States and the Netherlands, and the examples of height and beauty, this study examines whether: 1) Absolute or relative differences in a characteristic are what affect labor-market and other outcomes; and 2) The effects of a characteristic change when all agents acquire more of it - become taller or better-looking. Confronted with a choice among individuals, decision-makers respond more to absolute than to relative differences among them. Also, an increase in the mean of a characteristic's distribution does not alter market responses to differences in it.
Subjects: 
beauty
height
discrimination
market responses
JEL: 
J71
J78
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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