Height and Cognition at Work: Labor Market Productivity in a Low Income Setting

This paper evaluates the relative importance of these mechanisms that potentially underly the link between adult stature and labor market productivity. Drawing on twelve waves of longitudinal survey data collected in rural Central Java, Indonesia, it is established that height predicts hourly earnings after controlling education, multiple indicators of cognitive performance and physical health status, measures of family background, and sectoral and occupational choice. The height premium is large and significant in both the wage and self-employed sectors indicating height is not only a signal of worker quality. [Working Paper No. 480].