When it comes to a question of what causes crime, the natural determination that would come up is that it is either cause by poverty, greed, jealousy, anger, revenge and pride.
However, economists have started looking for a variety of dispositions on criminal acts of how it is connected to individual’s physical attributes.
A small group of economists is now looking of how human anatomy is interrelated to the likelihood of committing or being convicted of a crime.
They were reviewing records from 19th to 21st centuries, they have gathered evidence that shorter people are 20 to 30 percent more likely to commit crimes than their taller counterparts. As obesity and physical attractiveness are also linked to crime.
There is a bulk of research that relates between physical attributes and the labor market. Economic researchers have found that every inch of additional height is attributed to almost 2% increase in earnings; that attractive people has the advantage to earn 5% more an hour than over an average looking individual while those rated plain looking earned 9% less; that obesity can reduce in white women earnings.
Gregory Mankiw, an economist at Harvard University has suggested of taxing taller people more, since someone who is tall can be expected to earn more a year than someone who is not after considering for gender, weight and age.
Gregory Price, an economist at Morehouse College and author of paper on height and crime, had raised a point that crime can be viewed partly as an “alternative labor market.” If individuals with certain physical attributes are disadvantaged in the labor force, they may find crime more attractive, he said.
Theories about the relationship between weight, height or beauty and the labor force emerged because “economists looking at standard determinants like education, experience, productivity, human capital, found that they could only explain some of the variation in wages,” according to H. Naci Mocan, an economist at Louisiana State University and author of a paper on crime and attractiveness.
In the meantime, Mr. Rankiw is skeptical to the realities, when he said, “Economists love quantifying things, but there are so many possible interpretations, it does not settle debates as much as it opens up questions.”
He did note, however, that his students at Harvard are fascinated by the research that shows quantifiable of economic advantages of beauty.
