Letter Writer:

Marie-Claire Arsenault, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a social development officer for the Canadian government

Date Posted:

June 27, 2005

Letter:

I loved the article by Kristie M. Engemann and Michael T. Owyang, which looked at the link between appearance and wages. I have a related question that these researchers might be able to help me with, since there may be a correlation. Are wealthy people better looking than the average?
I have a major bet on your answer to this question.
Thank you.

Editor's Note:

As much as we would like to help you with your bet, I’m afraid that there are no useful data that would allow us to answer your question directly. If wealth and earnings were highly correlated, then one could surmise that wealth and looks are related in the same way that earnings and looks are. Wealth and income are, however, not that strongly correlated. A study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis notes that the correlation between earnings and wealth is a “surprisingly low” 0.23. (Javier Díaz-Giménez, Vincenzo Quadrini and José-Víctor Ríos-Rull. “Dimensions of Inequality: Facts on the U.S. Distributions of Earnings, Income, and Wealth.” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review, Spring 1997, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp 3-21.)

Letter Writer:

A. Scherf, a computer engineer in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Date Posted:

June 27, 2005

Letter:

Your analysis leans toward anti-discrimination laws as a “solution” to favoritism for good looks.

Think of it more simply, like this: People like to work for, and do business with, good-looking people. We don’t want to spend our lives around ugly people. We don’t want laws that force ugly people upon us. It’s good for everybody to try to look good via exercise, diet, proper dress, manners, etc. Studies would probably also show that polite people make more money than rude people; do you think we need anti-discrimination laws to protect rude people, too?

There are too many laws and regulations on the books already. Let the free market decide these things. In the end, everybody wins when government keeps its big butt out and lets people discriminate. Discrimination is not a bad thing.

Discrimination is one of the most important, powerful senses of perception that humans have. We discriminate constantly, all day long, every day of our lives. Without discrimination, our quality of life and standard of living would be much worse. We discriminate in the people and businesses we choose to interact with, the merchandise we select, the place we live. Virtually every decision we make involves discrimination!

People should keep discriminating against people who are ugly, rude, lazy, stupid, etc., and the world will be a much better place!

Editor's Note:

The source of your impression that the article leans toward anti-discrimination laws is difficult to find in the article itself. In fact, the last paragraph of the article notes that anti-discrimination laws might not work. There may, however, have been some discussions in the press that gave this impression.