Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35678 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4266
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The association between stature and favorable labor market outcomes has been extensively documented. Recent studies have attributed this height premium to cognitive and social skills. We offer an alternative explanation, where the premium mainly arises from the positive association between height and physical capacity. Accounting for the latter reduces the height premium by about 80 percent. By also accounting for cognitive and non-cognitive skills, we are able to explain the entire height premium. Our estimates are based on data from the military enlistment register that has been linked to earnings for the entire population of Swedish males aged 28-38 in 2003.
Subjects: 
Earnings
height premium
cognitive and non-cognitive skills
physical capacity
JEL: 
J10
J70
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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