At least, when it comes to height it does. Tall people, both men and women, tend to earn more money, and new research takes a crack at figuring out why. Their answer is that the 1.5% increase in wages is about half due to higher educational attainment and half due to taller individuals selecting higher status occupations.

Megan McArdle goes so far as to say tall people are smarter, but I don't know how much you can read into numbers related to higher educational attainment. I wonder if there isn't some sort of difficult-to-measure confidence variable that gives taller individuals an advantage. That is, biologically we're inclined to perceive the taller members of the tribe as the healthiest and strongest, so perhaps we subconsciously give them just a skosh more respect and trust than we would someone shorter. Maybe we're more inclined to accept a business deal or agree with an argument delivered by a tall person. Maybe taller people internalize that from a young age and have more self-confidence to pursue higher education or lucrative fields.

Or maybe not. I'm just thinking out loud here. Previous research actually supports the notion that taller people are smarter:

These effects are consistent with the authors' earlier findings that taller individuals on average have greater cognitive function, which manifests in greater educational attainment, and better labor market opportunities. ... Case and her co-authors also note that the height premium may be masked by looking within occupation if, as is apparent in the data, taller people sort into better paid occupations.

Interesting stuff, whatever the reason. Paul Caron also points out that the taller presidential candidate, going all the way back to George Washington, has won the popular vote 66% of the time.