Diet drugs will probably be responsible for the next big change, and it won’t be the creation of a Stepford dystopia. Thinness is now desirable because it sends a signal: that you have the time to exercise, the money to afford healthy foods, and the education to know what diet to follow. In low-income countries like Malawi and Uganda, where food is scarce for the poorest people, obesity is more desirable, as it was in the preindustrial West. A study in these countries by Elisa Macchi of Brown University manipulated images attached to loan applications and found that applicants who appeared obese had better access to credit.
Signaling economics was best articulated by Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence. In 1973, Spence developed a simple model of how the labor market works. There are two types of job candidates: good, high-productivity candidates, and bad, lazy candidates. Potential employers don’t know which is which. Candidates can acquire a college degree, but whatsapp number list it’s difficult; bad candidates are unlikely to be able to do so. Even good candidates are expensive to acquire a college degree; it takes time and money. In this model, even if there are no real benefits to education, good candidates will acquire degrees as a signaling tool, to let employers know that they are strong candidates.
employers were thought to value education because it improved productivity. Mr. Spence showed that there might be more to it. Would you rather go to Harvard, study, take classes, make connections, and never be able to reveal it? Or would you rather have a piece of paper saying you went? A similar question gets to the truth about body types. Would you rather look slim and fit? Or would you rather be truly healthy?