Princeton economist Angus Deaton estimates that it will take 500 years for Indian women to reach the height of English women. In The Great Escape, Dr. Deaton explains that a population could be short because of nutrition or disease. When babies…
I was just reading about John Isner (6’10”), Juan Martin del Potro (6’6″), Milos Raonic (6’5″) and Ivo Karlovic (6’10”). Top ranked tennis players, they represent an increasingly tall person’s sport. At this year’s US Tennis Open, 9 of the…
How to predict Olympic medal winners? Economics. It takes money to train a world class athlete. The most economically fit countries can afford to train their athletes. Also, the “host bounce” helps. In the past, host countries have enjoyed a…
Explaining why no N.B.A. team drafted Jeremy Lin and the Knicks only picked him as a backup, New Yorker financial writer James Surowiecki focuses on height. But not how you might expect. Surowiecki talks about height and good looks to…
What if a physical trait meant you will earn $230,000 less during a lifetime? According to one study, a person who was in the bottom one-seventh for looks earned 10% to 15% less than people who were in the top…
We are taller, healthier, heavier, and living longer. In 1790, a typical Frenchman weighed 110 pounds. Now, the scale says 170. That 60-pound difference relates to a lot more than food. According to a new book from Nobel prize winning…
Height is about more than how tall you are. When affluence grows, so too do people. Why? Height seems to correspond to economic growth. Connecting height and economic growth, a wonderful New Yorker article from 2004 tells us that Americans…
A recent Daily Mail article about President Sarkozy’s height sensitivity reminded me of studies that relate height to success. But first, some height stats: Nicholas Sarkozy (France): 5’5″ Barack Obama (U.S.): 6’2″ Angela Merkel (Germany): 5’8″ Gordon Brown (U.K.):…
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