Tall People Earn More

ayahner writes "Tall people earn considerably more money throughout their lives than their shorter co-workers, with each inch adding about $789 a year in pay, according to a new study. If this is true, I should make a killing! At 6'7" I tower over other developers. It's mostly a distraction, as I can see over even the highest cubes and if I stand just in the right spot, I can receive satellite transmissions. Saves on the cell phone bill. I'm going to go ask for a raise right now, if I can figure out how to work the printer..."

Comments

obvious

[kurosawdust]

Well of course we get more money! We don't have huge pots of gold to fall back on like short people do! Quit whinin'!

I think you left out the most important conclusion

[Bingo Foo]

It's because tall people are better.

I wish

[latez]

I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish i had a girl with a phone I would call her!

Dubious Study

[mopslik]

I'm always doubtful about studies like this. While they claim that certain variables like weight, gender, etc. were controlled, I suspect there are other variables that come into play here. Did each participant have the same background? Training? Did they choose the same occupation? Do they live in the same area? Blah blah blah.

This is likely one of those "research causes cancer in rats" conclusions.

Re:Dubious Study

[Blkdeath]

How does gibberish like this get modded up as insightful? The poster has no idea what the word statistics even means.

In the general sense it means "Bending numbers to fit your conclusions."

Re:Dubious Study

[tmark]

Obviously *you* don't know that much about statistics yourself. You argue that "Correlation != causation". Where in the original post does is causation implied ? The study only claims to show that taller people earn more money, which is a statement purely about correlation, and which is a well known finding anyways.

Re:Dubious Study

[indros13]

Actually, most scientists are fairly careful to control for all of the circumstances you mentioned. I've seen this information in several other places before, and they do control for those variables. I'm kind of surprised that everyone thinks this is crackpot science, given how height is as obviously a part of a "good-looks" package as attractiveness, and we all know that good looks gets all sorts of advantages.

For those doubting Thomases:

• A BBC story on the issue about a study tracking people born March 1958.
• 1. Full details of this research will appear in Harper, B. 'Beauty, Statute and the Labour Market: A British Cohort Study', Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62, December 2000, pp773-802.
  2. The study sample of 11,000 people are members of the National Child Development Study. The NCDS cohort study tracks the lives of 17,733 people born in Britain in the first week of March 1958. They are now 42. They were last interviewed in 1991 when the sample had fallen to 11,407.
  Further information For further information, a copy of the full research article or to arrange an interview please contact Barry Harper (details below). London Guildhall University does not have an abbreviation. To avoid confusion with other organisations, please use only our full name. Thank you.

Obligitory

[Jacer]

if I can figure out how to work the printer..." PC load letter, what the FUCK does that mean?!

Re:So Why Won't Doctor's Help Short People Grow?

[brakk]

Because short people couldn't afford it.

Re:gee, you don't say

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

This of course comes as a surprise to noone under the 5'5" mark.

What's funny, or perhaps expected, is that tall people are, as a rule, blissfully unaware of the advantages their height affords them. They bitch about trivialities like fitting into movie seats while attractice girls fling themselves at them and they command undue attention in a conference room.

And if one of us shortish people brings it up, we're told we have a "Napolean complex", as if they even know what that means apart from that Napolean was also kind of short.

Easy there little fella. Why don't you cool down, maybe take a walk.

Could ya fetch some coffee while you're up? Us grown-ups have some serious work to do here.

So long, Karma. It's been fun
--

Helps becoming president too

[heli0]

The median height for American white males is 69"(5'9") while 72"(6'0") is the 75th percentile. (NHANES III 1988-94)

Recent Presidents' heights:

G.W.Bush: 6' 0"
Clinton: 6' 2-1/2"
G.H.Bush: 6' 2"
Reagan : 6' 1"
Carter: 5' 9-1/2"
Ford: 6' 0"
Nixon: 6' 0"
Johnson: 6' 3"
Kennedy: 6' 0"

8 of the last 9 above the 75th percentile not even accounting for lower heights in the past.

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[ReelOddeeo]

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