In Congress, a Whole Lot of Half-Truths

Two economists have a simpler explanation: "Taller people earn more because they are smarter," claim Anne Case and Christina Paxson of Princeton University. "As early as age 3 -- before schooling has had a chance to play a role -- and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests."

"For both men and women, an increase in height of four inches is associated with an earnings premium of approximately 10 percent," they report in a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. "An American man who is 6 feet 2 inches tall is 3 percentage points more likely to be an executive and 2 percentage points more likely to be a professional than is a man who stands 5 feet 10."

They based their claims on an analysis of four data sets from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Who Would Have Thought?School Makes You Wiser and Ballet Tights

· "The Effect of Education on Cognitive Ability" by Torberg Falch and Sofia Sandgren, working paper published by the economics department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Two economists find that every year of formal education raises a student's IQ an average of about 3 points, regardless of family income or parents' educational levels, raising new doubts that genetics alone determines intelligence.

· "The Effect of Ballet Dance Attire on Body and Self-Perceptions of Female Dancers" by Brena R. Price and Terry F. Pettijohn II, Social Behavior and Personality, Vol. 34, No. 7. Two Mercyhurst College researchers find that female ballet dancers hate the way they look in black leotards with pink tights and think they look better in loose-fitting clothes.

Richard Morin is a senior editor at the Pew Research Center. Versions of this column appear at washingtonpost.com and www.pewresearch.org.