Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/124902 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9397
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In general, the happiness literature has paid little attention to the relationship between physical appearance and well-being. In this paper, we examine the link between weight, height and well-being for three distinct samples in China given that attractiveness effects likely vary greatly across sociocultural contexts. As China has recently undergone rapid economic transformation in the urban areas, this empirical exercise is particularly interesting because it can highlight how changing social norms have affected the relationship between physical appearance and subjective well-being. For the rural and migrant samples, we find that for both men and women, big and tall individuals have higher levels of well-being. This is consistent with the notion that the strong are better off when more labor intensive work is the norm. For the urban sample and for urban males in particular, no well-being penalty is found for being obese, unlike previous results based on Western samples. It is very likely that the unique Chinese cultural practice of network building banquets and feasting is behind this finding.
Subjects: 
height
subjective well-being
China
weight
semi-parametric
JEL: 
I10
I30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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