Denny, Kevin, and Vincent O’ Sullivan. 2007. “The Economic Consequences of Being Left-Handed: Some Sinister Results.” Journal of Human Resources 42(2): 353–374.
This paper estimates the effects of handedness on earnings. Augmenting a conventional earnings equation with an indicator of left-handedness shows there is a positive effect on male earnings with manual workers enjoying a slightly larger premium. These results are inconsistent with the view that left-handers in general are handicapped either innately or through experiencing a world geared toward right-handers. Left-handed females however are paid significantly less. The results are consistent with a range of mostly psychological evidence, which suggests that left-hander males have particular talents such as enhanced creativity.
Kevin Denny is a senior lecturer in the School of Economics, University College Dublin (UCD) and is a research fellow at the Geary Institute (UCD) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London. Vincent O’Sullivan is a postgraduate student in the Economics Department, University of Warwick. They thank seminar participants at UCD, Trinity College Dublin, the universities of Copenhagen and Surrey, Marian Annett, Orla Doyle, Chris McManus, and the referees for comments. Permission to use the National Child Development Survey given by the ESRC Data Archive at Essex is gratefully acknowledged.