Abstract: This paper investigates whether beauty, an important natural endowment, affects investment decisions. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey (WLS), which provides a photo-based measure of facial beauty, we find that better-looking individuals are more likely to own stocks and invest a larger share of wealth in stocks. We consider a wide range of potential mediators that may drive this relationship between beauty and stock market participation. We find that income and sociability explain a large portion of the beauty effect. For both males and females, beauty has a significant positive impact on stock market participation. Using another dataset that includes the interviewer’s rating of the respondent’s physical attractiveness, we find similar results. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the economic returns to beauty and the source of heterogeneity in household portfolio choice.

Keywords: Beauty; Facial attractiveness; Stock market participation; Mediation analysis.

该文在线发表于《Journal of Banking and Finance》2023年9月，该期刊为武汉大学经济与管理学院学术期刊分级方案B+级奖励期刊。作者按姓氏排序，周洋为该文通讯作者。

原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2023.106994