Physical appearance has an impact on income, choice, and the economy beyond mere beauty. Explore the impact of physical appearance on modern society and the economy through “Beauty Economics.”
Can you feed me if I’m pretty?
“It is not physical appearance that is recognized at the end, but ability.”
It’s something I’ve been told since I was a child. Yes, that’s right. I’m an ‘ugly girl’ who wants to compete with my skills. But now, we are in the age of perfect ‘appearance-obsessed’. With the improvement of income levels, the popularity of short-form content, and the growth of modern consumers, people’s desire and interest in appearance has increased. Appearance is important in many places, including department stores, companies, stadiums, clubs, and stages, and has become the biggest concern of people. It is no wonder that pretty women are popular. But can looks really make someone a better person?
It is human nature to judge people by their appearance
In traditional society, people valued ability over appearance. It was an era when the phrase “judging people by their appearance” was interpreted in a negative way. But whether it was then or now, appearance is more than just physical appearance.
What is “face value”? “Face” literally means appearance and features, and “value” means the degree of height or depth. “Face value” refers to the attractiveness index that combines all the physical characteristics of a person, such as appearance, impression, body shape, atmosphere, and attitude. The attractiveness index has real value and is closely related to a person’s personality, activities, influence, and interests.
The purpose of quantifying appearance is, of course, to determine the relative merits of different people. That is why a quantified word that indicates the “face value” of a person’s appearance is used when evaluating a person’s appearance. This word, which was born in the Internet era, has come to be used to mean more than just a simple name as the network has developed.
It is said that people pay more attention to attractive appearances from the time they are newborns. In fact, the human subconscious tends to perceive ‘beauty’ as ‘good,’ and this behavior is exhibited to avoid bad things and take the good ones.
‘Face value’ is an evaluation criterion that guides behavior, and although it is fragmentary, it is valuable for research in economics because it helps to quickly and easily judge things. Humans instinctively seek beauty, and everyone has a desire for beauty. Beauty is closely related to human interests. More than 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle told his students
“A good-looking appearance can be as effective as any letter of recommendation.”
In the long process of human evolution, we have suppressed our instinct to judge people by their appearance and constantly emphasized the value that “people should not be judged by their appearance alone.” However, “anti-bias” based on reason and morality ultimately could not overcome human nature.
The following statement in a report by psychologist Comila Shahani-Denning supports this.
“Prejudice against appearance is seen in all areas. For example, when a teacher is grading, a voter is voting, a jury is making a decision, or an interviewer is evaluating an applicant, the other party is influenced by the other person’s appearance in all situations.”
In traditional society, appearance was an intangible asset and its value was not fully utilized. With the advent of the Internet era, people no longer hesitate to talk about their appearance, and appearance is seen as a kind of commodity, and evaluation standards have emerged. The emergence of standards for evaluating physical appearance means that it has become possible to distribute it in the market. In the ‘appearance economy’, various industrial networks have been derived, and the beauty industry, including plastic surgery and beauty, and industries related to various selfie equipment have emerged and are enjoying an exceptional boom.
The better-looking you are, the higher your income
The “face value” mechanism has a huge influence on consumers’ choice of products. So does it have an impact on personal value realization?
The answer is “yes.” Renowned economist Daniel Hamermesh has studied this issue from the perspective of “face value” for over 20 years. In his well-known paper “Appearance and the Labor Market,” he states the following:
“The relationship between appearance and lifetime earnings is quite strong and directly proportional.”
Appearance affects annual salary. Workers with a decent appearance were found to receive better salaries, incentives, and treatment than their peers with ordinary appearances. Daniel Hamermesh defined this as the “Economics of Good Looks.”
According to his research, men who were rated as somewhat less attractive than others under the same conditions were paid 9% less than the national average, which is called the “Ugliness Penalty” imposed by the market. In addition, men who were rated as having excellent physical appearance under the same conditions, with other factors being equal, had a salary 5% higher than the national average, which is called the “Beauty Premium” imposed by the market.
In the case of women, women who were rated as having poor physical appearance had a salary 5% lower than the national average due to the “Ugly Penalty,” while women who were rated as having excellent physical appearance had a salary 4% higher than the national average due to the “Beauty Premium.” When men and women were combined, workers who received the “ugly penalty” for receiving poor ratings for their appearance had annual salaries 7-9% lower than the national average, while workers who received the “beauty premium” for receiving good ratings for their appearance had annual salaries 5% higher than the national average.
In their research paper “The Plastic Surgery Effect of Marriage and the Labor Market,” Korean economists Professors Lee Soohyung and Ryu Geun-gwan expanded on Daniel Hamermesh’s economics of beauty.
They found that the annual salary of the person and his or her spouse is directly proportional to the “face value.” Men with good looks earned 15.2% more than average men, and women with good looks earned 11.1% more than average women. The annual salary of the spouse of a man with good looks was 18.8% higher than the national average, and the annual salary of the spouse of a woman with good looks was 12.7% higher than the national average.
So, how long does it take for a person to get plastic surgery to see a rise in their salary and their spouse’s salary? It is said that it takes an average of 1.3 years for men and 2.5 years for women. The biggest beneficiaries of cosmetic surgery are the group whose appearance changed from average to above average, while the least benefited group was the group with a very good appearance.
Is it natural that the ‘face value’ is directly proportional to the annual salary? Yes, that is correct. Numerous empirical economic studies have shown that people with high “face value” have higher labor efficiency, employer cost recovery rates, loan approval rates, and loan preferential treatment than people with low “face value.”
According to the findings of a study published by the research team of economist Ernest W. King, employers tend to assign good-looking employees to good jobs and pay them high wages, and this cannot necessarily be attributed to discrimination.
The research team cited and analyzed the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the largest real estate transaction platform in the southeastern United States, in a paper titled “The Relationship Between Appearance and Labor Efficiency and Income of Real Estate Agents.” As a result, under the premise that other factors are the same, the better-looking the real estate agent hired to sell the property, the higher the selling price and the greater the seller’s profit from the transaction. So, is it really just discrimination that sellers prefer real estate agents with good looks?
“Good looks create greater economic value.”
What does economics have to say about this? The research team of economist John Karl Scholz presented the answer in a paper titled “Appearance and Lifetime Income.” They found that the “face value” of students is strongly positively correlated with their participation rate in extracurricular activities such as student councils, clubs, and sports programs, as well as their self-confidence and personality traits.
This finding shows that students with good looks have more opportunities to participate in various extracurricular activities during their school life, and that these experiences improve their abilities in various areas, such as communication, leadership, compliance, and cooperation, and lay the foundation for them to become talented individuals who will be in the spotlight in the labor market in the future.
In short, in terms of the formation of human capital, people with good looks develop at a faster rate, to a higher degree, and in a wider range than people with less good looks. This is due to the advantages of good looks itself, but also to the characteristics of social human capital. The above economists argue that good looks are also a productivity resource.
People who are pretty and handsome are pleasing to the eye, and this is called “customer preference” because it attracts customers’ attention. The purpose of employers hiring them is to take into account the external effects of their outstanding appearance. This is to give customers a sense of satisfaction and encourage them to return and buy again. Of course, only a few industries attract customers’ attention with the outstanding appearance of their workers.
Economists say that the cost of hiring one worker is not simply determined by the wages paid to that employee, but is also related to the happiness of their colleagues. The worse the new workers get along, the worse the working environment becomes and the less happy the colleagues feel. In such cases, companies have no choice but to resolve employee dissatisfaction through wage increases to prevent employees from leaving the company. This ultimately becomes an indirect factor that increases the cost of hiring new employees.
‘Appearance’ also works in elections
Professor Timothy A. Judge of the University of Florida in the United States argued that superior appearance increases self-confidence, which in turn makes it easier to receive a higher salary. In other words, people with good looks can easily increase their salary by being more proactive and taking the initiative to seize opportunities with high self-confidence and by performing better in fierce competition.
This applies equally to public office elections. The research team at Lund University in Sweden led by Ignace Bergomi proved this in an experiment.
The research team analyzed nearly 2,000 candidates in the Finnish elections. They showed photographs of the Finnish candidates to foreigners who knew nothing about the candidates and asked them to rate their appearance. The results were then compared with the election results.
The comparison showed that the candidates who were rated as the most attractive by foreigners were the ones who succeeded in the actual election. The difference between this experiment and the Daniel Hamermesh’s annual salary survey is that the influence of appearance in elections was greater for women than for men.
The Economist has also published similar content. In all animal societies, including humans, if a person with outstanding physical appearance becomes a leader, he or she is very likely to achieve the greatest career success. At this point, height, body shape, voice, and manner of speaking are all important factors.
While having a great appearance has many advantages, there are also disadvantages. For example, doctors tend to neglect patients with good looks. Patients who are pretty or handsome may be disadvantaged in the treatment process. People tend to associate physical appearance with health, which is why people who are good-looking tend not to take their illnesses seriously. Some studies have found that doctors tend to be less attentive to the symptoms of patients who are good-looking.
The worst are those who are so good-looking that there are no people around them. Instead of beauty, they have gained loneliness. A study conducted in 1975 revealed that people tend to avoid pretty women on the street. This behavior may be out of respect, but it is the people around them who distance themselves because of their appearance. Extrinsic attractiveness creates a lot of visual energy. But that also makes it difficult for others to approach them. Here’s an interesting fact. According to a report by a famous online dating site, it is more difficult to find a date for someone with an outstanding appearance than for someone who is ugly. Perhaps this is because ugly people do not impose much of a burden on their dates.
The ‘appearance economy’ also applies to products and brands
People have an instinct to prefer pretty things. This can be broadly referred to as ‘sensory stimulation’, which includes not only pretty things but also pleasant scents and soft textures. Let’s say you have a pile of good products in front of you. Generally, the first reaction to seeing a pretty product is “it’s really pretty,” and the next reaction is the desire to “have it.” Only then does the rational thought of “what will I use it for?” come into play. This decision-making process determines whether or not to buy a product.
In particular, the current MZ generation has grown up with a good education in an era of relative material abundance, and their standards and sense of beauty have greatly improved. Aesthetics have become a very important part of their purchasing behavior.
With this background, the era of “influencer commerce” has begun. There have been an increasing number of cases in which pretty and unique products launched by influencers have spread by word of mouth and led to huge sales. Influencer-branded products have been hugely popular in various categories, including clothing, cosmetics, food, interior goods, camping goods, automotive goods, and pet goods. They put a lot of effort into the exterior design of the products, and when they upload pretty photos on social media, people feel a sense of satisfaction and a desire to buy just by looking at them. This is the secret to how they generate huge sales with just a few photos.
The value of excellent exterior design lies in attracting the attention of consumers and attracting new customers. However, without excellent quality, it is impossible to get customers to buy again and to build a loyal customer base. Products must be both good in design and quality. Companies need to increase their R&D investment and develop innovative products to launch online commerce products that are loved for a long time, not just for a short while. Modern consumers have a lot of information and a wide range of choices. If a company makes its first purchase because it likes the design, but the consumer is disappointed with the quality, the company will quickly be shunned by consumers. Of course, it’s a good thing that the design is pretty. However, if there is no individuality and uniqueness, it is difficult to win the love of consumers. Similarly, the first thing we evaluate in a person is their appearance, then their talent, and finally their character.
