MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02426cam a22003017a 4500
001 2006615620
003 DLC
005 20060329104513.0
007 cr |||||||||||
008 060329s2006 gw sb 000 0 eng
010 $a 2006615620
040 $aDLC$cDLC
050 00 $aHD5701
100 1 $aMocan, H. Naci.
245 10 $aUgly criminals$h[electronic resource] /$cby Naci Mocan, Erdal Tekin.
260 $aBonn, Germany :$bIZA,$c[2006]
490 1 $aDiscussion paper ;$vno. 2048
538 $aSystem requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
538 $aMode of access: World Wide Web.
500 $aTitle from PDF file as viewed on 3/29/2006.
530 $aAlso available in print.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references.
520 3 $a"Using data from three waves of Add Health we find that being very attractive reduces a young adult's (ages 18-26) propensity for criminal activity and being unattractive increases it for a number of crimes, ranging from burglary to selling drugs. A variety of tests demonstrate that this result is not because beauty is acting as a proxy for socio-economic status. Being very attractive is also positively associated adult vocabulary test scores, which suggests the possibility that beauty may have an impact on human capital formation. We demonstrate that, especially for females, holding constant current beauty, high school beauty (pre-labor market beauty) has a separate impact on crime, and that high school beauty is correlated with variables that gauge various aspects of high school experience, such as GPA, suspension or having being expelled from school, and problems with teachers. These results suggest two handicaps faced by unattractive individuals. First, a labor market penalty provides a direct incentive for unattractive individuals toward criminal activity. Second, the level of beauty in high school has an effect on criminal propensity 7-8 years later, which seems to be due to the impact of the level of beauty in high school on human capital formation, although this second avenue seems to be effective for females only"--Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit web site.
650 0 $aCriminals.
650 0 $aYoung adults.
650 0 $aInterpersonal attraction.
830 0 $aDiscussion paper (Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit : Online) ;$vno. 2048
856 40 $uhttp://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=2048