THE ECONOMIC REALITY OF THE BEAUTY MYTH

We investigate income, marital status, and hourly pay differentials by body mass (kg/m(2)) in a sample of 23- to 31-year-olds drawn from the 1988 NLSY. Obese women have lower family incomes than women whose wei ght-for-height is in the ''recommended'' range. Results for men are we aker and mixed. We find similar results when we compare same-sex sibli ngs in order to control for family background (for example, social cla ss) differences. Differences in economic status by body mass for women increase markedly when we use an earlier weight measure or restrict t he sample to persons who were single and childless when the early weig ht was reported. There is some evidence of labor market discrimination against obese women. Differences in marriage probabilities and spouse 's earnings, however, account for 50 to 95 percent of their lower econ omic status. There is little evidence that obese African American wome n suffer an economic penalty relative to other African American women.