Decoding Love - Andrew Trees [58]
If a woman wants to be really smart about it, she can squeeze out even more value from a short man. She just has to find a short man who was tall in high school. This is not the oxymoron it may at first appear. What she should look for is a man who had his growth spurt early, giving him a chance to tower over his peers before they surpassed him in later years. Why is this an advantage? It turns out that adolescent height is an excellent predictor of intelligence. In addition, the height advantage during those formative years gives the men greater self-esteem, which also increases their chances of success later in life. In fact, all those salary statistics don’t hold up when it comes to men who were tall in high school but short later in life. Those short men earn more like a tall man, despite their stature. The reverse is also true—short men in high school earn less later in life even if they are tall—so, considered from an economic point of view, women should avoid those men.
It is even possible to date a short man who is perceived as a tall man. The combination of status, power, and height is so ingrained in all of us that short men with the first two assets will often be credited with the last as well. In one study, the same man was introduced as either a lowly student or an esteemed professor. Afterward, when the students were asked to estimate the man’s height, they guessed that the professor was several inches taller than the student. So, in some cases, you can get all the advantages of dating a tall man, including the perception of those around you that you are dating a tall man, even though you are actually dating a short man. Where can you get a better deal than that?
Once you start looking, there are lots of niches that can be explored. For instance, if you are a white woman who is open to marrying someone of another race, you can also take advantage of a market imbalance. According to one study of online dating, an African-American man needs to earn an extra $154,000 a year above the average salary to equal the success with white women that a white man enjoys, while a Hispanic man must earn an additional $77,000. Asian men are selling at an even steeper discount. They must earn an additional $247,000 a year. Men are more rigid in this regard than women. According to the study, women can’t compensate for racial or ethnic differences with higher salaries.
And we’ve already seen how men undervalue intelligent women, even though intelligence is one of the most precious genetic gifts we can pass on to our children. Men also shy away from women who make too much money, which is completely irrational from an economic standpoint. Similarly, men avoid dating women taller than themselves, even though a woman’s height is also a sign of genetic fitness. Of course, to take advantages of these market imbalances, people will have to overcome their natural tendencies, which is no easy thing. A recent survey found that only 4 percent of women were open to the idea of dating a man shorter than they were. But if people can make it over that hurdle, there are plenty of bargains to be found in the dating market.
Needless to say, some qualities never sell at a discount. For example, if looks are important to you, you are going to have to pay up. Women are a little more flexible on this score and are willing to trade looks for financial resources. A man judged to be in the bottom 10 percent in terms of attractiveness needs to earn an additional $186,000