TY  - JOUR
AU  - Schick,Andreas
AU  - Steckel,Richard H.
TI  - Height as a Proxy for Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Ability
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16570
PY  - 2010
Y2  - December 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16570
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16570.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Andreas Schick
Department of Economics
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
E-Mail: schick.36@buckeyemail.osu.edu

Richard H. Steckel
Department of Economics
Ohio State University
410 Arps Hall, 1945 North High Street
Columbus, OH  43210-1172
Tel: 614/292-5008
Fax: 614/292-3906
E-Mail: steckel.1@osu.edu
AB  - Taller workers receive a substantial wage premium. Studies extending back to the middle of the last century attribute the premium to non-cognitive abilities, which are associated with stature and rewarded in the labor market. More recent research argues that cognitive abilities explain the stature-wage relationship. This paper reconciles the competing views by recognizing that net nutrition, a major determinant of adult height, is integral to our cognitive and non-cognitive development. Using data from Britain’s National Childhood Development Study (NCDS), we show that taller children have higher average cognitive and non-cognitive test scores, and that each aptitude accounts for a substantial and roughly equal portion of the stature premium. Together these abilities explain why taller people have higher wages.
ER  -