The Tall and the Short of the Returns to Height

We present new evidence of the correlation of height with important socioeconomic outcomes, finding the height profile is significantly non linear at mean height, especially for males. We trace this non linearity back to the adult height profiles of cognitive scores from the teenage and childhood years. Measures of birthweight and parental height have independent, mediating impacts on the adult height profiles of age 7 cognitive scores. However, the majority of the significant variation of male scores at heights below the average remains within birthweight/parental height cells