People in Wales have slammed a US academic who controversially suggested uglier people ‘migrate to places like Wales’.
Professor Daniel Hamermesh, an expert in pulchronomics – the economics of beauty – at the University of Texas, found that the least good looking people were situated in Wales and Scotland after analysing data from the 1958 National Child Development study.
Writing in the National Bureau of Economic Research, the researchers said: ‘The Southeast attracted good-looking people, while less good-looking people moved elsewhere in the UK.’
But people who have chosen to move to Wales have slammed Professor Hamermesh as ‘superficial’ and said his findings are an ‘insult’ to Welsh people.
Sam McGrath, 20, moved to Wales from Maine in the US to study textiles at Trinity St David’s University in Swansea. She said she has met some beautiful people since emigrating from the states.
‘I think this professor has a very superficial take on people’, she said.
‘Maybe it’s a class thing, people in Wales have more to concern them than their appearance.
‘Maybe if you are wealthier, you are more presentable’
Engineer Evgenii Eliseev, who hails from Russia said the professor had insulted the Welsh population.
‘It’s an insult to say someone is ugly, you can’t say it about a whole nation’, the 31-year-old said.
‘I have lived all over the UK and there are beautiful people everywhere, especially in Wales.’
Welsh natives are also feeling aggrieved by the study, pointing to the likes of Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Sheen and Richard Burton as standards of Welsh beauty.
Retired steel plant worker Roy Dutton, 74, said: ‘How dare they say that about Wales? You only have to look at our famous actors. Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Sheen and Richard Burton.
‘The Welsh are some of the most beautiful people in the world’.
Susan James, 42, from Swansea, added : ‘Seriously? Wales has it’s fare share of good looking people, look at Catherine Zeta Jones, she’s one of the world’s most beautiful women.’
And psychotherapist John Dray, from Ammanford, said: ‘This professor in Texas is wrong’.
‘People here are better looking, friendlier and more intelligent. That makes them some of the most attractive people you can find anywhere. Much better than Texans, although they do very good steaks’.
Professor Hamermesh also told The Times: ‘During a life we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
‘The outrageous fortune in this case is that some people are born and grow up to be pretty bad-looking.’
Previous studies have uncovered a number of factors that influence your physical beauty.
This includes facial symmetry, flirtatiousness, and confidence. Research has also suggested attractive people earn more.
In his book, Professor Hamermesh estimated that attractive people earned on average about £145,000 more in a lifetime than those with below-average looks.
A beautiful woman would earn four per cent more, and handsome men three per cent more, than their plain counterparts.