Because I am not left-handed, I have never taken much pleasure in the endless parade of studies, articles, and anecdotes about how left-handed people are better at everything than right-handed people. But that doesn’t mean the studies stop coming; here’s the latest, by the economists Christopher S. Ruebeck, Joseph E. Harrington, and Robert Moffitt. At least we righties can console ourselves with the knowledge that lefties still have a hard time finding a good pair of scissors.
Tall people, too, can continue to feel good about themselves — although as this paper by Anne Case and Christina Paxson argues, the relative success of tall people isn’t due to self-esteem or anything like that. It comes from the simple fact that, as Case and Paxson write, “taller people earn more because they are smarter.”
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The study by Ruebeck et al. explains how left-handed men earn more than their right-handed colleagues *among those who have attended college.* In other words, they’re chopping off the bottom half of the curve.
There’s a flatter bell curve for left-handed people when it comes to intelligence — we’re more likely to be intelligent, but we’re also more likely to have learning disorders — among them dyslexia, child autism, and ADD, three conditions which can inhibit one’s ability to earn a paycheck.
So it’s not that we’re smarter — we’re just weirder.
The study by Ruebeck et al. explains how left-handed men earn more than their right-handed colleagues *among those who have attended college.* In other words, they’re chopping off the bottom half of the curve.
There’s a flatter bell curve for left-handed people when it comes to intelligence – we’re more likely to be intelligent, but we’re also more likely to have learning disorders – among them dyslexia, child autism, and ADD, three conditions which can inhibit one’s ability to earn a paycheck.
So it’s not that we’re smarter – we’re just weirder.
When I was very young, I realized that I would have to be tall to become successful. So I did.
When I was very young, I realized that I would have to be tall to become successful. So I did.
“I realized that I would have to be tall to become successful. So I did.”
So you did what, exactly? Is this an argument for or against taller people being smarter?
“I realized that I would have to be tall to become successful. So I did.”
So you did what, exactly? Is this an argument for or against taller people being smarter?
It’s an argument for eating your vegetables
It’s an argument for eating your vegetables