Hamermesh on The Daily Show: Ugly People

Freakonomics contributor Dan Hamermesh was featured on The Daily Show last night, in a piece about ugly people. Hamermesh has done extensive research on the economic disadvantages of being unattractive. His most recent book, Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful, shows how all kinds of economic benefits flow toward physical beauty — from higher salaries, to better loan rates, to attractive, educated spouses. We did a Q&A with him here.

In this segment, Hamermesh and Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones have some fun discussing whether ugly Americans should be given special legal protection.