Beauty Pays is out!! (Princeton University Press, 2011, available from the Press, or either hardbound or Kindle version). Its central point is that beauty affects outcomes in markets because it is scarce. It details how these effects function, how large they are, and what they imply about a wide array of markets.
It includes relevant jokes, songs, etc., lots of pictures but no graphs. Despite a “chatty” tone the discussion of beauty illustrates ideas comprising almost half of an introductory micro course.
It raises a wide array of issues and questions. I’m happy to answer any questions that Freakonomics readers might have, so please ask away in the comments section below!
Here’s the table of contents:
Preface
Part I. Background to Beauty
Chapter 1. The Economics of Beauty
Chapter 2. In the Eye of the Beholder
Definitions of Beauty
Why Do Beauty Standards Matter?
How Do We Measure Human Beauty?
Do Observers Agree on Beauty?
Does Beauty Differ by Gender, Race or Age? What Makes You Beautiful?
Can We Become More Beautiful?
The Stage is SetPart II. Beauty on the Job: What and Why
Chapter 3. Beauty and the Worker
The Central Questions
How Can Beauty Affect Earnings?
How Much More Do Good-Looking People Make?
Is Beauty the Real Cause?
Why Are Beauty Effects Smaller Among Women?
Do Beauty Effects Differ by Race?
Do Beauty Effects Differ by Age?
Compensating the Beauty-Damaged Worker?
Looks Matter for WorkersChapter 4. Beauty in Specific Occupations
Beauty and Choosing an Occupation
How Big Are Beauty Effects Where Beauty Might Matter?
How Big Are Beauty Effects Where Beauty Might Not Matter?
Sorting by BeautyChapter 5. Beauty and the Employer
The Puzzles
Do Good-Looking Employees Raise Sales?
How Does Beauty Affect Profits?
How Can Companies Pay for Beauty and Survive?
Do Companies with Better-Looking CEOs Perform Better?
Beauty Helps Companies—ProbablyChapter 6. Lookism or Productive Beauty, and Why?
What the Beauty Effect Means
How Can Beauty Effects Be Discrimination?
How Can Beauty Be Socially Productive?
What are the Sources of Beauty Effects?
What Is the Direct Evidence on the Sources?
The Importance of BeautyPart III. Beauty in Love, Loans and Law
Chapter 7. Beauty in Markets for Friends, Family and Funds
Beyond the Labor Market
How Is Beauty Exchanged?
How Does Beauty Affect Group Formation?
How Does Beauty Affect Dating?
How Does Beauty Affect Marriage?
Could There Be a Market for Beautiful Children?
Does Beauty Matter When You Borrow?
Trading Beauty in Unexpected PlacesChapter 8. Legal Protection for the Ugly
Fairness and Public Policy
What Kinds of Protection Are Possible?
How Have Existing Policies Been Used?
Is It Possible to Protect the Ugly?
What Justifies Protecting the Ugly?
What Justifies Not Protecting the Ugly?
What Is an Appropriate Policy?
Protecting the Ugly in the Near FuturePart IV, Chapter 9. Prospects for the Looks-Challenged
The Beauty Conundrum
Are Beautiful People Happier?
What Will Be Beautiful? What Should Be?
What Can Society Do?
What Can You Do If You’re Bad-Looking?
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Something I’ve always wondered: Do attractive people show up later to meetings / events / interviews etc.? That is my intuition but has anyone ever studied it?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
11 
0
Well, the only bit I need to read is chapter 9, “Prospects for the Looks-Challenged”.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
8 
0
(Just ordered your book, so all I’ve read is what’s available in the Amazon preview.)
On pp 35-36, you say that we’re basically stuck with the hand nature has dealt us, even with cosmetics, surgery, etc. Is this only in regards to facial beauty? It would seem that from the neck down, there is much more room for improvement (or to let yourself go).
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
7 
0
How can we (individually and corporately) resist this economic force, and how can we best train our children to resist it?
Because I am on the distant end of the beauty spectrum–the low end, alas!–I think it likely that jealousy, self-loathing, and perhaps bitterness at my lot, has caused me to play hardball when beautiful people show up.
A beautiful woman is my manager? Obviously, the tramp slept her way to the top. Or, if not that, she at least used her looks to flirt her way to the top!
A beautiful woman is my waitress? I redouble my guard so that she can’t get a bigger tip out of me just because she’s good looking. (I mean, really, guys, do we think that a 25% tip will cause her to fall into our arms, beg to bear our children, and the such??? Maybe us guys aren’t just not good looking…maybe were stupid, as well.)
Silly men will always have a weak spot for a “pretty little thing.” No wonder many of the people who do well in real estate sales are beautiful women. I’m a little silly myself, I’m afraid. I married a girl 13 years my junior. In retrospect, I think it was somehow self-affirming for me, a very below-average looking guy, to parade around a cute little 21-year-old.
In a way, just as women USED to have to work twice as hard to get as much recognition as men, the pretty ones have rebalanced the playing field by having to work less to get what they want.
MY QUESTION: I don’t want to know how to even the playing field. I want to know how to UTTERLY DEFEAT pretty people–and to do it without having to work harder or be smarter. I know the answer probably has to do with having photos of the boss in a compromising position, but maybe you have another path to success.
From looking at Dubner’s and Levitt’s pictures, I know they want to know this too!
Hot debate. What do you think?
7 
4
I’m curious about self-awareness of beauty. We’re often aware of our competency in many skills and physical traits. Someone who is tall is tall; a great typist knows by their high WPM. There is of ten said to be a type of person who is beautiful “and knows it.” Are these people more apt to leverage the advantages beauty brings, or is it an inherent value booster in all who have it? Two equivalent fast typists in the same job would hypothetically perform the same. What about two equivalently attractive people, but one is less aware of their relative attractiveness?
Us ugly guys could exploit the “American Idol Loophole”–you know, where grossly untalented people think they can really sing? Maybe there are incredibly beautiful women who think they look terrible…and we could make their day by marrying them despite their terrible “shortcoming.” We’d be heroes in their eyes!
Have you noticed any ways that beauty is a double edged sword?
Bill James had a good statement on this topic in “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis, where he equates a potential blessing as a possible bane: (paraphrased) “A pitcher’s velocity on his fastball, is like looks on a girl. It matters but its not everything”. I took this to mean that while you maybe gifted in one area, in this case velocity/attractiveness, it may lead to short comings elsewhere – pitcher’s accuracy or a girl’s personality.
Does Hamermesh have to give the Freak blog a cut of sales to have this book ‘advertisement’ appear at the top of the blog for the day (tell me it isn’t longer than a day!) i.e. Featured Post?
Maybe there is normally a featured post that stays at the top for a day. This is the first one that I have noticed.