It pays to be pretty: Professor’s 20-year study reveals good looking employees are paid more and get better perks

长得美赚得多：经济学教授20年研究成果表明长得好看的职员工资高特别待遇多

A new book by an economics professor at the University of Texas-Austin reveals what the world of advertising has known for decades - that beauty sells.

得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的一位经济学教授最近出版新书，书中揭示的似乎是广告宣传界已经流传已久广为人知的真理：那就是美貌能带来商业效益。

But Daniel S. Hamermesh also shows that being attractive pays - with good looking employees enjoying more perks and higher pay packets than their plainer colleagues.

不过丹尼尔·哈默迈什教授的研究可不止如此，他还发现长得好看收入也高：长相好看的人比起长相平庸的同事工资待遇要高，享受的特殊待遇也多。

Professor Hamermesh has studied what he refers to as the economics of beauty for about 20 years.

哈默迈什教授把这叫做美貌经济学，他已经潜心研究此领域有20年之久。

In his book Beauty Pays, published by Princeton University Press, he claims good looking people enjoyed perks beyond their pay - such as party invites, business travel and office privileges - while less attractive workers are overlooked and can often be victims of discrimination.

在他的新书《美貌带来报酬》中，他认为长相好看的人在工资收入之外，享受的特殊待遇也要多，包括聚会邀请，商务旅游和办公室特权。相比之下，长相没那么吸引人的同事们通常会被忽视成为外貌歧视的受害者。该书已由普林斯顿大学出版。

Attractive people are more likely to be happier, earn more money, get a bank loan (with a lower interest rate) and marry equally good looking partners.

容貌好看的人更快乐，赚得更多，可以拿到银行贷款（利率还低），跟容貌同样不错的伴侣结婚的可能性也更大。

As a result, attractive employees are more productive, leading to higher sales and potentially higher profit for themselves or the company they work for.

因此，长相好看的职员工作效率也更高，带来更高的销售额，同样也会为自己或公司带来更高的利润。

Less cut and dried is what constitutes attractiveness. Far from being merely in the eye of the beholder, Professor Hamermesh points to a few subconscious factors - such as the symmetry of the face, facial expression and popularity factors (if the person looks like someone popular or famous).

上面的这些似乎有些老生常谈吧，不过哈默迈什教授还总结了一些吸引力的组成因素。觉得某个人有魅力可远不止情人眼里出西施这么简单，他指出还有一些潜意识因素：脸型的对称，面部表情和名人效应（看起来像某个名人）。

In his book, Professor Hamermesh estimated that attractive people earned on average about £145,000 more in a lifetime than those with below-average looks.

教授在书中估计，长相好看的人一生平均要比长相低于平均水平的人收入高出14.5万英镑。

A beautiful woman would earn four per cent more, and handsome men three per cent more, than their plain counterparts.

比起长相平平的同事，美貌的女性收入高出4%，帅气的男性收入则高出3%。

When the professor's research became widely known in the early 1990s, he came in for some criticism - namely from comedian Jay Leno, who asked why someone like Dallas businessman and presidential candidate Ross Perot earned more than someone like actor Rob Lowe?

哈默迈什教授的研究自20世纪90年代早期起就广泛引起关注，不过也有一些批评的声音：特别是喜剧演员杰·雷诺（小编注：美国NBC电视台《今夜脱口秀》节目主持人），他就质疑为什么罗斯·佩洛特，这位达拉斯小牛队前老板和两届总统候选人， 赚得要比帅哥级演员罗伯·洛多呢？

But Professor Hamermesh brushed this off, being quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: 'We don't talk about individuals; we talk about the average good-looking person and the average bad-looking person. There are always outliers.'

不过哈默迈什教授没有接受这种质疑，他曾对《悉尼先驱晨报》表示：“我们谈论的不是单独的个人，我们的讨论对象是平均长相好看和平均长相难看的人。总是会有例外的。”

Of course education and work experience were important factors in earnings, but Professor Hamermesh said his new book, based on his research, showed that a person's looks were impossible to ignore.

教授基于多年的研究在新书中表示，教育背景和工作经历当然是影响我们收入的重要因素，但是个人长相的影响也无法忽略。