Height, Human Capital, and Earnings: The Contributions of Cognitive and Noncognitive Ability

Schick, Andreas; Steckel, Richard H.

doi:10.1086/679675

Cited by 39 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…[37–39] However, these associations tended to be explained by cognitive ability,[40] a combination of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities (e.g. locus of control, management skill)[41, 42] or social capital. [43]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

et al. 2018

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This is the first review of the evidence, based on longitudinal studies in the United Kingdom, on the association of ill health at any life stage and later social and economic outcomes. The review included a wide range of physical and mental health exposures, both self-reported and objectively measured, as well as social (e.g. life satisfaction) and economic (e.g. employment) outcomes. We searched the Web of Science, key longitudinal datasets based in the UK, major economic journals, Google Scholar and reference lists of relevant publications. The review includes 80 studies. There was strong evidence for the association between early mental health, mainly attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and lifetime educational, occupational and various social outcomes. Also, both poor physical and mental health in early and middle adulthood, tended to be associated with unemployment and lower socioeconomic status. Among older adults, the evidence quite consistently indicated an association between mental health, chronic conditions, disability/functional limitations, self-rated general health and quality of life, life satisfaction and early retirement. Overall, mental health was consistently found to be associated with a range of social and economic outcomes throughout the lifespan. The evidence for the association between physical health and later outcomes is more inconsistent. A number of methodological challenges need to be addressed, particularly related to causal inference, to produce robust evidence with potential to inform public health policy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

et al. 2018

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“…Studies indicate that part of the height premium reflects the influence of non-cognitive skills such as confidence, emotional control, and other pro-social skills, although there is relatively little empirical evidence on the magnitude of these effects in developing countries (Persico, Postlewaite and Silverman, 2004; Lyndqvist and Vestman, 2011; Lundborg, Nystedt and Rooth, 2014; Schick and Steckel, 2015). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height and cognition at work: Labor market productivity in a low income setting

LaFave

Thomas

2017

Economics & Human Biology

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Taller workers earn more, particularly in lower income settings. It has been argued that adult height is a marker of strength which is rewarded in the labor market; a proxy for cognitive performance or other dimensions of human capital such as school quality; a proxy for health status; and a proxy for family background and genetic characteristics. As a result, the argument goes, height is rewarded in the labor market because it is an informative signal of worker quality to an employer. It has also been argued that the height premium is driven by occupational and sectoral choice. This paper evaluates the relative importance of these potential mechanisms underlying the link between adult stature and labor market productivity in a specific low income setting, rural Central Java, Indonesia. Drawing on twelve waves of longitudinal survey data, we establish that height predicts hourly earnings after controlling education, multiple indicators of cognitive performance and physical health status, measures of family background, sectoral and occupational choice, as well as local area market characteristics. The height premium is large and significant in both the wage and self-employed sectors indicating height is not only a signal of worker quality to employers. Since adult stature is largely determined in the first few years of life, we conclude that exposures during this critical period have an enduring impact on labor market productivity.

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“…Previous studies using both OLS and sibling or twin fixed-effects methods have found that taller people generally have higher levels of EA ( 66 – 68 ). They are also more likely to perform well in various other life domains, including earnings, higher marriage rates for men (although with higher probabilities of divorce), and higher fertility ( 69 – 74 ). The question is what drives these results.…”

Section: Empirical Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic instrumental variable regression: Explaining socioeconomic and health outcomes in nonexperimental data

DiPrete

Burik

Koellinger

2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

102

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SignificanceWe propose genetic instrumental variable (GIV) regression—a method that controls for pleiotropic effects of genes on two variables. GIV regression is broadly applicable to study outcomes for which polygenic scores from large-scale genome-wide association studies are available. We explore the performance of GIV regression in the presence of pleiotropy across a range of scenarios and find that it yields more accurate estimates than alternative approaches such as ordinary least-squares regression or Mendelian randomization. When GIV regression is combined with proper controls for purely environmental sources of bias (e.g., using control variables and sibling fixed effects), it improves our understanding of the causal relationships between genetically correlated variables.

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Height, Human Capital, and Earnings: The Contributions of Cognitive and Noncognitive Ability

Cited by 39 publications

References 40 publications

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

Height and cognition at work: Labor market productivity in a low income setting

Genetic instrumental variable regression: Explaining socioeconomic and health outcomes in nonexperimental data

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