That wasn’t likely to make short people feel good, but the latest explanation is worse. In a new study, Anne Case and Christina Paxson, both of Princeton University, find that tall people earn more, on average, because they’re smarter, on average. Yikes. ~Slate

On behalf of tall people everywhere (I’m 6’4″), I would like to say that this is only fair, since for as long as I can remember my height has often been met with the irritating comment, “You’re too tall.”  There is no good way to respond to this, since no one considers it poor form to belittle tall people for their height, but people do consider it very poor form to return the criticism to short people.  So it seems only fair that tall people should be compensated in some way for this never-ending hassle. 

There are, of course, more serious things in the article that are worth reading, such as:

So, why did height at age 16 bear a stronger relationship than adult height to adult earnings in the earlier study by Persico, Postlewaite, and Silverman? Case and Paxson point out that kids who are tall at age 16 are those who have experienced their adolescent growth spurts at a relatively early age. And they point out that these kids turn out to be the well-fed and nurtured kids of parents who are on average smarter and richer than the rest, and who also pass on extra IQ points. The 16-year-old taller kids end up earning more for reasons apart from their height.