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 
The history of what defines beauty would be interesting to know, as well as the gender gap in good looks. Men can look plain and not be criticized, while plain women are told to get makeovers.
“There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”
Maybe plain men aren’t told to get makeovers because no one thinks there’s any hope for them anyways.
I hope i am not too late in commenting
Here in the Uk, this book is not available yet, I’ve only been able to read whats been posted around the internet by the author.
I want to talk about a very controversial evolutionary psychologist who has published a blog post called “Beautiful people are more intelligent”
Here are the links to two of his articles. I’ll some up his assertions.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200903/beautiful-people-are-more-intelligent-i
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200904/beautiful-people-are-more-intelligent-ii
Heres a quote.
the association between intelligence and physical attractiveness may emerge from the process of assortative mating. If more intelligent men are more desirable to women than less intelligent men, because they achieve higher status, at least in the modern environment, and if physically more attractive women are more desirable to men than physically less attractive women, then there should be assortative mating of intelligent men and beautiful women, and of less intelligent men and less beautiful women. Because both intelligence and physical attractiveness are heritable, such assortative mating should create an extrinsic (non-causal) correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness in the next generation. Children of intelligent men and attractive women should simultaneously be intelligent and beautiful, and children of less intelligent men and less attractive women should simultaneously be less intelligent and less attractive.
and in a later blog post.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201012/beautiful-people-really-are-more-intelligent
“the association between physical attractiveness and intelligence is stronger among men than among women”
I notice in an article written by the author, he states that the income gap for men differing in physical attractiveness is wider than with women. This associates well with the above find.
Could it be that attractive people make more money partially because of their good looks but more so because they are more intelligent?
Thanks
I forgot to add I have seen studies claiming that more attractive men were more likely to be hired, but the opposite was true of women, possibly because the admin and recruitment departments of many firms have a higher proportion of female staff who may be jealous at another womans beauty. Could this also add to the disparity in the effect on income of beauty by gender?
Sorry if you’ve already answered this in detail in your book.
but what happens when it seems everybody’s TOO
let me finish..
what happens when it seems everybody’s TOO good looking
http://theregjoe.blogspot.com/2010/10/everybody-is-just-too-good-looking.html
Attractive people may be more successful, but hot chicks are also dumber, and here I explain WHY: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/why-hot-girls-are-dumb/
Does your data set include other countries or does it stay in the United States, Thanks!
Does beauty matter more than race?