TY - JOUR
T1 - Height and Earnings: The Role of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills
AU - Lundborg, Petter
AU - Nystedt, Paul
AU - Rooth, Dan-Olof
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - We use large-scale register data on 450,000 Swedish males who underwent mandatory military enlistment at age 18, and a subsample of 150,000 siblings, to examine why tall people earn more. We show the importance of both cognitive and noncognitive skills, as well as family background and muscular strength for the height-earnings relationship. In addition, we show that a substantial height premium remains after these factors have been accounted for, which originates from very short people having low earnings. This is mostly explained by the sorting of short people into low-paid occupations, which may indicate discrimination by stature.
AB - We use large-scale register data on 450,000 Swedish males who underwent mandatory military enlistment at age 18, and a subsample of 150,000 siblings, to examine why tall people earn more. We show the importance of both cognitive and noncognitive skills, as well as family background and muscular strength for the height-earnings relationship. In addition, we show that a substantial height premium remains after these factors have been accounted for, which originates from very short people having low earnings. This is mostly explained by the sorting of short people into low-paid occupations, which may indicate discrimination by stature.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84894047892
U2 - 10.3368/jhr.49.1.141
DO - 10.3368/jhr.49.1.141
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-166X
VL - 49
SP - 141
EP - 166
JO - Journal of Human Resources
JF - Journal of Human Resources
IS - 1
ER -