长得好看有多重要?——外貌对收入的影响作用及机制分析

How Important Beauty Is? ——The Impact of Physical Appearance on Income and Its Mechanism

利用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS2014)数据,研究中国劳动力市场中外貌对个人收入的影响及其作用机制,研究结果表明:外貌对收入有显著正向影响;相较于女性,男性的"美貌溢价"更明显;对于不同年龄、学历和收入层的人群而言,外貌的影响效果存在异质性,并且在控制身高和BMI指数之后,外貌对收入的影响仍具有稳健性。从影响机制来看,一方面,外貌歧视的存在直接影响个人收入;另一方面,外貌通过影响语言表达、待人接物等非认知能力,间接地对收入产生影响。

This paper analyzes the impact of appearance on personal income and its mechanism in Chinese labor market by using the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS2014). The results show that appearance has a significant positive impact on male income, while it has no significant impact on female income. Meanwhile, beauty premium reveals heterogeneity among people at different ages, with different educational backgrounds and in different income levels, that is to say, beauty premium is more obvious among young men, high educated women or men, and middle and high income men. And with controlling the height and BMI, the impact of appearance on personal income is still steady. In addition, appearance not only affects personal income directly by market discrimination, but also affects personal income indirectly through influencing individual non-cognitive abilities such as language expression and interpersonal skills.