Looks good, you’re hired? Evidence from extra-parliamentary activities of German parliamentarians

Abstract

Politicians have been shown to benefit electorally from an attractive physical appearance. Employing data on 614 German MPs, this note explores whether it also affects their success/failure in the market for extra-parliamentary activities. An attractive physical appearance is found to mainly benefit female MPs, especially for private-sector jobs. This is particularly driven by MPs’ perceived likability. While MP’s perceived beauty is shown to have no direct effects for extra-parliamentary activities, our findings suggest important indirect effects.