Comments on: Why Mr. Welker is so stinking rich…

By: mina.song

mina.song — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:44:57 +0000

if this is true…. then… we don’t have to study?? do we only need to grow as tall as possible??
I hope this is true but as many of people here said, there will be some, very little percentage, relation, but no definite relation lol

By: Trevor Sun

Trevor Sun — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:52:39 +0000

So thats why I can’t get a 4.0 naw but i do think that height definitely gives the individual an advantage and possibly is the source of their success.

By: Jennifer Choi

Jennifer Choi — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:38:33 +0000

This IS funny, and still making sense. Haha and yeah it might relate to lookism as Jinny said. I guess there really is some advantage in being tall. Intresting statistis and article!

By: Claire Moon

Claire Moon — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:15:13 +0000

funniest article! haha
WOW there is some psychologial evidence! “height gives adolescents self-confidence and helps them learn valuable social skills” Well it actually was stated on psych textbook, and it was found out to be somewhat true! I never knew that it also relates to economics like taller people are smarter therefore they earn more money! interesting article!

By: Jinny

Jinny — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:59:37 +0000

HAHAHA! This is hilarious! I guess it is fairly true since tall people do seem to be fairly better off. And plus, being tall is always an advantage in almost all cases, like in sports, modeling and etc. I guess people are more noticeable when they are tall and thus, more impressive…? Who knows. But this article seems to have some relevant statistics and facts to support this claim! Hehe. But wow, I’ve never thought of this. I guess this is the similar case to lookism.

By: Mond

Mond — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:02:35 +0000

Well, according to my knowledge. Height is the end result of genetics and environmental factors, so tall people should in theory have better nutritional nourishment (protein/carbs/fat), but does this make them smarter? I refuse to believe so, perhaps it is because I am not considered tall. Well, being tall does give people more of a intimidation factor, which could translate to more power and respect. Thus, a higher wage.

By: Kai Lin Fu

Kai Lin Fu — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:12:53 +0000

I agree with Andy that though environmental factors effect height they are second to genetic factors. Also, Alex made a good point. It may seem that the increase in average height among Japanese people is due to the increase in economic status, however the Japanese diet has changed over time. I believe it is due to the cultural shift, as it is unlikely the people couldn’t afford dairy products.

By: serenatu

serenatu — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:54:08 +0000

haha, nice article Mr. Welker.
Well, personally I don’t find any connection between tall people and the income they earn. Not all tall people are rich, and not all short people are not as rich. I like what Conrad’s saying, rich people are tall, because they have lots of money to buy good stuff to eat, more nutritions than anyone else, that’s why they grow so tall.

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:59:02 +0000

I’ve seen news on this research before. maybe its just that people that are tall give people a better first impression.

By: Alex Goldman

Alex Goldman — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:03:10 +0000

An example that might run skew the data collected in this experiment is the height of Japanese people over the past few decades. The average height of a Japanese man is a few inches taller now than it was 50 years ago. This is mainly attributed to a change in the Japanese diet. The traditional diet consists of lots of rice, vegetables, and fish. Nowadays, meat and milk are becoming a more important part of a Japanese person’s diet, and as nutritional studies have shown, meat and milk (milk especially) are vital to growth. It’s important to note that it wasn’t because of Japan’s economic status that the people couldn’t afford meat and dairy produce - the diet is cultural. The US occupation of Japan introduced meat and milk to the country. The confusing thing with this case is that Japan’s economy has improved markedly over the past few decades. So is the correlation between a cultural shift and height more important, or is it the correlation between height and wealth?

By: Dana Y.

Dana Y. — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:35:41 +0000

However odd this correlation may sound, I actually believe it may be true. Take South Korea as an example. A normal Asian country situated between newly rising superpower China and a country that already reached its fullest potential in the 1990s, Japan, South Korea became a strategic place for investors to invest during the 1980s. Not only that, following the economic liberalization during the 1980s that gave rise to a successful democracy, South Korea was able to climb out of long period of political turmoil (due to Korean War during the 1950s and political instability from then) as well as economic recession. In fact, South Korea became heavily industrialized as people were so motivated to come out of the depths of poverty, being under Japanese rule, and torn by wars. Not only that, with newly blooming democracy, South Korea underwent huge economic growth in the 1980s. It was also during that time when most South Korean adolescents grew taller. According to a survey held in South Korea, results recorded that South Korean women grew 4.6cm taller than they used to be merely 20 years ago. It was also recorded that South Korean men also grew taller by 6cm in average than they used to be 20 years ago. This is an indubitable evidence that there is, in fact, correlation between height and wealth.

By: Rebecca Sung

Rebecca Sung — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:43:37 +0000

I think that the article mentioning that taller people have more confidence does indeed boost their economic background. When a tall person has a job interview, their confidence in themselves can make them speak without that hint of doubt in their voice which the interviewer would probably like.
The article says that “Indian men of 20 are about 1cm taller than 40-year olds, partly because the country was substantially richer when they were born;” I agree with with Jo Lo, Asian countries have only been recently becoming richer (therefore being able to buy more nutritious food), so there’s a limited number of tall elderly people.

By: Jo Lo

Jo Lo — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:21:43 +0000

I’ve heard this before, and I think its correct to some degree that there is a correlation between rich and height. Its common sense to think that the more money people have, the more food they’ll buy, thus being more healthy. I think the reason why Asians are widely perceived as being shorter than Europeans is because Asian countries are for the most part poorer than their European counterparts. It’s only been recently that they have became richer. I’ve seen a lot of tall Chinese adolescents, but not much tall elderly people. Opposite can be said about European countries. They’ve been rich for a longer time and thus have taller populations.
As for the correlation between height and intelligence, I don’t think that’s true. As the examples given above, a lot of tall people are not very smart. But there are people who are smart but are ‘vertically challenged’,… Napoleon!

By: kevinhuang

kevinhuang — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:08:10 +0000

I disagree with Andy having read “Freakonomics” because through their thorough research it seems quite clear that genetics are the main factor in affecting the outcome of people. If a child has tall confident, wealthy parents, then that child is also likely to do well in life because of who his parents are, according to professor Steven Levitt.

By: andyxu

andyxu — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:18:53 +0000

I do not believe that wealth and intellect are affected by height for the majority of the population.

First, the argument that tall people, because they are receiving more nourishment from consuming more food, must be smarter, is flawed. Optimizing the potential of the brain is mainly done through using the brain more often to think. If the average American is consuming more food than the average Korean or Japanese and the average American is also taller, does this necessarily translate to a smarter average American? There is no way to find out.

In addition, if your mature height is in the average range of somewhere between 165 and 185, the amount of food you intake should be similar to others around your height range. Scientists have claimed that height, just like the optimal intellect, is mainly determined by genetic factors. Environmental factors such as nutritional supplements comes second.

Secondly, even if you assume that tall people are smarter in average, it is difficult to argue that a smarter person will necessarily earn more money. Ignoring players in the NBA and NFL, I do not think that the effect of higher self-confidence in taller people will make too much of a difference when it comes to doing a job better. Also, physical appearance is only a smaller factor in determining your self-esteem.

Therefore, the explanation of wealth by height is flawed, even if there is a correlation between those two.

(I realize that this article is kinda a joke, but so is my comment).