What does it mean to find the face of the franchise? Physical attractiveness and the evaluation of athletic performance David J. Berri a , Rob Simmons b, ⁎, Jennifer Van Gilder c , Lisle O'Neill c a Department of Economics and Finance, Southern Utah University, United States b Department of Economics, Lancaster University, UK c Department of Economics, Ursinus College, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 18 February 2010 Received in revised form 25 January 2011 Accepted 15 February 2011 Available online 21 February 2011 JEL classifications: J3 J4 Keywords: Facial symmetry Salaries NFL quarterbacks We show that attractiveness, as measured by facial symmetry, leads to greater rewards in professional sports. National Football League quarterbacks who are more attractive are paid greater salaries and this premium persists after controlling for player performance. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years researchers in the fields of economics, sociology, and anaplasty (application of reconstructive surgery) have used symmetry analysis as a method to make beauty an objective issue. People characterized by greater facial symmetry, as defined by exhibiting balanced lateral proportions, are considered to be more attractive and greater attractiveness is connected to observed outcomes. Adams and Lavoie (1974) and Clifford and Walster (1973) find that teachers give more favorable treatment to more attractive students. At mock trials, prettier people are given lighter sentences (Buck and Tiene, 1989). According to Mocan and Tekin (2010) ‘uglier’ people have greater propensity to commit crimes. In an influential study of beauty and salaries, Hamermesh and Biddle (1994) showed that, holding all covariates equal, better looking people earn greater salary than average looking people, creating a wage premium of 5% per person. Mobius and Rosenblatt (2006) presented experimental evidence to show that physically attractive people earn higher wages, primarily because of better communication skills. A number of studies have shown that more attractive people are perceived to be more competent and more productive in the labor market. Among the factors cited in this literature are confidence, leadership skills and social skills, all of which may be enhanced by attractiveness. More attractive individuals may possess greater self-esteem and higher levels of motivation both at school, in human capital acquisition during formative years and later on in the labor market (Mocan and Tekin, 2010). A related strand of empirical literature suggests that height can have a positive impact on salaries and other labor market outcomes (Persico et al., 2004; Case et al., 2009). The latter report that the height premium is explained mostly by higher average educational achievement of taller people reinforced by sorting of tall people into occupations and industries that offer higher salaries. 2. Data and model Our analysis of the relationship between attractiveness and earnings focuses on the quarterback – or the “face of the franchise”– in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL is a good vehicle for studying the effects of attractiveness on salary as pay levels for players are publicly available and a set of complete and accurate performance measures is also published. Confidence, leadership and height are all necessary ingredients for a successful quarterback in the NFL making it an interesting case to study. Economics Letters 111 (2011) 200–202 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Economics, Lancaster University LA1 4YX UK. Tel.: +44 1524 594234; fax: +44 1524 594244. E-mail address: r.simmons@lancaster.ac.uk (R. Simmons). 0165-1765/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2011.02.018 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Economics Letters journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet