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FRANCE looked back this week at the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the walls of the Louvre. It was one of the most startling art heists in history, but the emotions it still arouses go beyond that. Stealing Leonardo da Vinci’s painting was like stealing beauty itself. And beauty has lost none of its power to bewitch, bother and get its own way, as three new books on the economic advantages of good looks confirm.
Physically attractive women and men earn more than average-looking ones, and very plain people earn less. In the labour market as a whole (though not, for example, in astrophysics), looks have a bigger impact on earnings than education, though intelligence—mercifully enough— is valued more highly still.
Beauty is naturally rewarded in jobs where physical attractiveness would seem to matter, such as prostitution, entertainment, customer service and so on. But it also yields rewards in unexpected fields. Homely NFL quarterbacks earn less than their comelier counterparts, despite identical yards passed and years in the league. Not everything comes easier: good-looking women seeking high-flying jobs in particularly male fields may be stymied by the “bimbo effect” until they prove their competence and commitment. But the importance of beauty in the labour market is far more pervasive than one might think.

A. 어휘
good looks 美貌(미모). Boardroom 중역실(회의실). startling 놀라운.
heists 강도, 도둑. bewitch 매혹하다, 황홀하게 하다, 마법을 걸다.
bother 괴롭히다, 성가시게 하다. confirm 확인하다.
plain 얼굴이 예쁘지 않은. astrophysics 천체물리학. earnings 소득, 賃金(임금).
mercifully enough 매우 자비롭게도. rewarded 보상받다.
customer 顧客(고객). prostitution 賣春(매춘). yields 생산하다.
Homely 못생긴. NFL 미식축구. comely 잘생긴.
high-flying 대망을 품은. stymy 방해하다. bimbo 허튼 계집, 평판이 나쁜 사내.
competence 능력. commitment 헌신. pervasive 퍼지는, 널리 미치는.