| Scientists are trying to understand why tall people earn more Another scientific attempt to explain the difference in earnings of residents of the USA and Great Britain was made by scientists from Princeton University. Taking as a basis the well-known statistics showing that, on average, tall people earn more than short people in these two leading economically developed countries, researchers Anne Case and Christina Paxson decided to find out why every “extra” 10 cm in height brings a 10% increase in wages. fees. Unlike their predecessors, who tried to find a solution to this phenomenon by studying the features of the labor market, which opens up more opportunities for tall and physically strong people, scientists from Princeton literally fell into childhood. In their opinion, it is the difference in the behavior of large and small children in the first months and years of life that is then “converted” into a difference in salary. Quite unexpected arguments by Case and Paxson were recently published by the British National Bureau of Economic Research, Newsru.com reports.
The statistical base with which economists work today has been accumulated over almost half a century. In the UK, groups of people born in 1958 and 1970 have been monitored for many years. In America, sociologists tried to identify the relationship between a person’s height and the choice of profession he made in his youth. These generalized studies have shown that the earnings of tall people are, on average, higher, regardless of gender. The advantage in salary for higher wages is typical in the US and UK for both men and women. “As adults, taller people are more likely to choose higher-paying jobs that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills, as well as greater intelligence,” Reuters quoted researchers from Princeton University as saying. The first attempts to understand why this was happening had a clear social bias and were opportunistic and politically correct. The lower earnings of short people were explained by discrimination in the labor market, low self-esteem of short people, and their worse health status compared to their taller peers. But Anne Case and Christina Paxson set out to prove that potential earnings differences start long before working age.
An analysis of intellectual tests conducted in childhood by representatives of the observed groups showed that at the very beginning of life, taller people compared favorably with their short peers. "As early as age three and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on tests," Keyes and Paxson say. Researchers believe that the future intellectual superiority of large children may have been laid out in the womb and in the first months after birth. “During this period, the rate of growth is greater than at any other time in life and nutritional requirements are greatest,” write the Princeton scientists, who believe that this is when human cognitive abilities are determined.
In their work, they refer to other studies that have already proven that proper nutrition in infancy is one of the key factors for the formation of a child’s intelligence and a prerequisite for his growth. However, until now no one has dared to conclude that tall people are generally smarter than short people. However, Anne Keyes and Christina Paxson are also trying to avoid categorical formulations. “Prenatal care and prenatal nutrition are incredibly important, even more important than we thought,” Anne Keyes summed up her main conclusion in an interview with Reuters. In addition, she emphasized that the statistics underlying the study were collected only in the United States and Great Britain. In other countries, the relationship between wages and growth may not be as clear. And therefore, the conclusions of scientists from Princeton cannot be applied to all of humanity. Fedor SEREBRYANSKY |
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