Atul's Quest (Chapters 2 & 3)

Atul's Quest 

Nader Habibi

Chapter Two

Change of mind

During the next few weeks, I was almost buried under the pressure of teaching and statistical analysis for my own research. It was the last month of the spring term, and I had to spend more time with students as well. So, I had almost forgotten about Atul and his ideas. Back then, I was working on how government spending was affected by the change of political regime in developing countries. One afternoon, I went to the social science library, which was very close to my office, to make a copy of an article on government spending that was published in the December 1994 edition of American Economic Review. As I was looking through the table of contents to locate the article that I was after, an article by Daniel Hammermesh and a co-author attracted my attention. It was entitled “Beauty and the Labor Market.” I had read a summary of this article before. It was about how a person’s beauty affects his income and career. The conclusion of the article was that, after accounting for all other factors, beauty plays an important role in a person’s career success and level of income.   The  idea

is hardly new, and most people agree with this conclusion based on their personal experiences. However, the fact that Hammermesh, who is a prominent labor economist, had proved this fact in a formal and scientific study attracted a lot of attention to this article, and it was even discussed in popular magazines.

I usually promise myself not to get distracted when I’m browsing a journal for a specific article, but I never succeed. The title and the abstract of this article re- minded me of Atul’s idea. I decided to read the introduction and the conclusion of the article. The more I read, the more I enjoyed it, and suddenly realized  I had spent almost an hour reading the whole article. The analysis in this article was based on three large in- terview surveys: two conducted in the US and one in Canada. What was interesting about these surveys was that the interviewers who conducted the face-to-face interviews were also asked to give each interviewee a beauty score on the scale of 1 to 5. These categories were: 1) Strikingly beautiful or handsome, 2) Above average for age, 3) Average for age, 4) Below average for age and 5) Homely. Overall, the survey included more than 7200 women and 5300 men. They had used this large data set to show that beauty mattered in the labor market. More attractive men and women got better jobs and earned higher incomes. They also hinted at the idea that it is rational for people to invest on improving their looks.

One thing you learn as an academic is that you must always look for new research ideas. You try to capture ideas from conversations with colleagues, watching a television program or reading an article. After a while, this search for ideas becomes second nature. As you read an article, you constantly search for ideas that either help enhance your current research or    could

serve as the initial idea for a new research project. So, as I read the “Beauty and the Labor Market,” a game of word association got underway in my mind: physical beauty, market, development, economic growth, personal beauty, group beauty. If personal beauty could lead to more income, is it possible that the average beauty of an ethnic group or nation could affect their economic development? What if a nation could become more beautiful? Would an increase in average beauty help it grow faster? What if a minority group becomes more beautiful? Would it be able to improve its socio- economic status? The game of word association continued: beauty and market, beauty and growth, beauty and development, Beauty and Development, Beauty and Development, yes!!! “Beauty and Development.” What a wonderful phrase. If an article entitled “Beauty and the Labor Market” could capture so much attention, imagine how the academic community would react to the idea of Beauty and Development? The first thing to do when a new idea comes to your mind is to write it down, and that’s exactly what I did.

“A new research topic: Beauty and Development.” This idea occurred to me half way into reading the article. From then on, I was reading with a clear objective: to try to pick up any ideas and references that could be relevant to my newly crafted research topic. While Hammermesh was only concerned about how personal beauty affects a person’s economic success (income), I began to think of other connections between beauty and development.  Beauty could  lead to development, but development could also lead to more beauty as people enjoy a better diet. Beauty might have an indirect effect on development by having a positive effect on a county’s trade partners…

Then I suddenly remembered I could not afford to get distracted from my ongoing research. Another thing that I had learned the hard way was that spreading my resources too thin on too many research projects was futile and unproductive. This idea was very appealing, yet I did not have time for it back then. What to do? What to do? Slowly but gradually, I heard a word in the back of my mind: Atul, Atul, Atul. I had found the answer. I would use Atul to do the initial literature search for this project, while I was completing my current research on government budget. What a clever idea. What Atul wanted to work on was related to my idea of Beauty and Development, and, even if it wasn’t, I could gradually lead him in the direction that I wanted to. I had suddenly found a reason to accept Atul’s request for an independent study project.

As soon as I returned to my office, I looked at a list of students in the class that Atul had taken with me and found his email. I sent him a brief email.

Atul,

If you are still pursuing the topic that we discussed earlier for an independent study course, you might find the following article interesting:

Then I added the reference to “Beauty and the Labor Market.” I did not want to give the impression that I had agreed to supervise his Independent Study.

Chapter Three

The Cover-up

The next day - Tuesday May 12 - was the last day of exams, and I did not expect any students to come to my office. I had given more thought to my new research idea in the morning, and I was convinced that it was worth pursuing. The campus was relatively quiet. It was a cloudy day with mild temperatures. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was Atul. He wanted to know if he could see me in my office. I asked him to stop by around five. While I was working on my project between Atul’s call and our five o’clock meeting, I did a quick cost/benefit analysis of agreeing to supervise his independent study project. The benefit, obviously, was that he could help me collect all the background literature that I needed for the B&D (Beauty and Development) project. The cost was the time I had to spend supervising his own project. One has to minimize costs and maximize benefits to make a profit.

Atul arrived on time, breathing heavily. He was holding a copy of the “Beauty and the Labor Market” article and looked very excited.

“Thank you for recommending this article. It is very informative and I’m glad that it reaffirms some of my beliefs,” said Atul.

“What do you mean, it reaffirmed your views? It doesn’t make any recommendations for race-mixing, does it?“ I asked with a smile.

“I don’t mean in that sense,” he responded. “What I mean is that they show how important beauty is for an individual’s economic success. Since all ethnic and racial groups have to compete in the same national labor market, any ethnic group that is perceived by others as less attractive will suffer from wage discrimination and will be denied certain job opportunities that involve personal interaction with customers. Once I can establish that a race is less attractive, then I can use these findings to justify my recommendations. Another interesting point in this article is that there are certain standards of beauty that are common all around the world. As people see more and more images of other ethnic and racial groups through the media, their attitude toward beauty converges even further.”

“Interesting observations. Have you read any other books or articles on this issue since we met last time?”

“No, Dr H. I have been very busy with my exams and term papers. I’m going to start reading about it over the summer. I’ll be staying with my parents in New Jersey, near Princeton, and I have access to the Princeton library. I’m only working part-time for a local software company and can spend 15 to 20 hours a week on the literature search. But, first, I need to find a professor who will agree to be my supervisor for this project. I did talk to a couple of professors in the department of sociology, as you had suggested. But neither showed any interest. So when I got your  email, I thought I should come to see you and find out if   you

have had a change of mind. Reading this article by Hammermesh and Biddle has aroused my curiosity even further. I would be grateful if you agreed to be my supervisor.”

I did not expect Atul to repeat his request for my involvement so directly and quickly, but I was glad that he was still passionate about it - the more passionate the better.

“I have not changed my mind. I just remembered you when I came across this article by accident. As I mentioned before, I’m not familiar with the topic, and I still don’t think the department would approve an independent study course on Race and Beauty.’’ I wanted to see how enthusiastic Atul really was. I also wanted to make sure he got the impression that, if I agreed to supervise him, I was only doing it as a favor to him.

Before Atul could say anything, there was a  knock at the door. It was a female student named Meena, who was from India and was taking my public expenditure class that term. From the way Atul and Meena greeted each other, it was obvious that they knew one another. As Meena entered my office and stood about three feet away from Atul, he seemed a little nervous. It appeared to me that he deliberately put the article, which he was still holding in his hand, face down on the table to prevent Meena from reading the title.

“Sorry to disturb you, Dr. H. I was wondering if you have graded my term paper yet? “

“No, not yet. Why don’t you check back by Wednesday if you are going to be here?’’

“Unfortunately, I’m leaving tomorrow, but I can call you if you don’t mind.’’ I gave her my phone number and resumed my conversation with Atul after she left.

“Okay, where were we?” I asked.

“You were saying the department might not approve my topic,” said Atul, who seemed relieved that Meena was gone, and continued: “Perhaps we could choose a more reasonable topic for my study that is more related to economics. We can report this topic to the department and get approval for it. Once the department approves an IS, I don’t think they are going to check to see what is really being covered in detail, as long as you report that I’m making good progress.”

”It’s not that simple. Aren’t you forgetting the outside referee that is appointed by the department?"

“Oh. You are right!! I remember you told me earlier that I would have to write three term papers which will be evaluated by a department appointed referee,” said Atul.

I nodded my head in approval, and we were both silent for a few seconds.

Then Atul said: “Looks like whatever topic we choose and report to the department, I have to submit three satisfactory papers on that topic. Will you have any influence on the choice of the department referee? If you do, then perhaps you can choose a friend of yours who could be more cooperative.”

Based on this comment, I realized that Atul was more practical than I expected. This was good because I was also very practical. However, his suggestion was infeasible. “Unfortunately for you and I, the chair himself appoints the referee and, if anything, he will try to make sure that the supervisor and the referee are not close friends. Besides it is extremely unlikely that any faculty member would risk his career by  participating in such a cover-up.” I did not tell Atul that, in addition to these concerns, I also did not have any friends in the department. People are so competitive and so busy that you are lucky if you can make even simple acquaintances with anyone. So I suggested a more “practical” solution: “I think the only way you can do this is to come up with a research topic that is acceptable to the department and is not too demanding. Then you can work on your racial improvement topic and this topic at the same time. As long as you submit three term papers on this topic, you can study racial beautification to any extent that you want. However, it means extra    work.” I was waiting for Atul’s reaction.

“Does this mean that you are willing to supervise my independent study project if I can gain the department’s approval for a straightforward economics topic? “

“I can’t promise anything now, but, after you have done some reading on this beautification stuff, we can talk about it. I will consider your request again a few weeks before the fall term,” I responded.

“That’s wonderful. It means a lot of extra work for me, but I’m willing to do it as long as you agree to be my supervisor. ”

“Unfortunately, I can’t think of any other alternative. However, if we can come up with a topic that is closely related to your concept of racial beautification and at the same time has a more acceptable appearance, then the two topics will have a large amount of overlap, and your additional work might only be 25 to 35%,” I said.

He agreed that it was a practical solution. “But do you have any specific topic in mind?” he asked.

“Not right now. This strategy just occurred to me. Why don’t you and I both think about it for a few days and see if we can come up with a good one. Just keep in mind the two criteria. First, we want the topic to have as much overlap with racial beautification as possible. Second, we want to make sure it is acceptable to the department. “

Atul stood up to leave and it was clear that he was very happy: “Thank you so much. I will think about it and email you a few ideas. We can keep in touch by email over the summer.’’

“No Atul. I don’t think it will be a good idea to discuss this issue by email. It’s best to talk about it over the phone,’’ I said. Atul smiled and nodded with excitement: “You are right. Email is not as secure as it seems. We better be careful.’’

After Atul gave me his New Jersey phone number and left, I began thinking about the cover-up topic for his IS. I wanted the “cover-up” topic to be related  to my own research idea of Beauty and Development as well. This way Atul had to do my literature search in order to earn a credit for his independent study. I felt very clever about the whole thing and the cover-up.

What was it that I needed Atul to do for me? First, I wanted him to search the literature to find out if anything has been written about the connection between beauty and development. Second, I might need him to do a survey of opinions or collect some observations similar to what Hammermesh and Biddle had done. One alternative was to choose a title directly related to my own research objective: “The Interaction of Physical Beauty and Economic Development.” This would give me more power to use Atul as a research assistant. But the danger was that, first of all, if this topic was indeed a good idea, someone else on the faculty might grab it. I have never had any illusions about the intelligence and capability of my colleagues at Yale. They are always looking for new ideas. Who knows? Maybe Hammermesh and Biddle picked up the initial idea for their work in a casual conversation with a faculty member or a student. Besides, if the topic is exotic, the chairman usually appoints a   referee

who has worked in that area or at least has shown curiosity about it in the past. Such a faculty member would have some knowledge of the literature and could give Atul a hard time by questioning his methodology and demanding high quality work.

Over the next two weeks, Atul and I spoke on the phone several times. I had decided against a topic that might give a hint about my own agenda. So I waited for Atul to come up with something. As we talked about various ideas, I realized that I still did not have a clear idea of what it was that Atul wanted to accomplish. Talking to Atul gave me the impression that he himself did not have a clear idea either. The best way to clear your mind about a research idea is to write it down. When you write, you are forced to organize your thoughts. Atul agreed to start reviewing the literature and write a three- to four-page explanation of why whitening is important and how he plans to study it. Since he did not have to register for the fall term until mid-August, we agreed to select the cover-up topic after Atul had prepared a proposal and a clear outline of the reading material that he wanted to cover.