IQ And The Wealth Of Nations National IQ Estimates

In several cases, IQ did not correlate well with GDP. In these cases, the authors argued that differences in GDP were caused by differences in natural resources and whether the nation used a socialist or "market" economy. One example of this was Qatar, whose IQ was estimated by Lynn and Vanhanen to be about 78, yet had a disproportionately high per capita GDP of roughly USD $17,000. The authors explain Qatar's disproportionately high GDP by its high oil resources. The authors argued that the mainland China's per capita GDP of roughly USD $4,500 could be explained by its use of a communist economic system for much of its recent history. The authors also predicted that communist nations who they believe have comparatively higher IQs, including the PRC, Vietnam, and North Korea, can be expected to gain GDP by moving from centrally-planned to market economic systems, while predicting continued poverty for African nations.

The central thesis of IQ and the Wealth of Nations is that the average IQ of a nation correlates with its GDP. Above is a scatterplot with Lynn and Vanhanen's IQ figures and estimates ² ; (explained below) plotted against 2004 per capita GDP ( PPP), as reported by the IMFThe International Monetary Fund IMF is an international organization responsible for managing the global financial system and for providing loans to its member states to help alleviate balance of payments problems. Part of its mission is to help countries. ³ Similar diagrams appear in the book.

The authors stated that they believe IQ is due to both genetic and environmental factors. They also stated that low GDP can cause low IQ, just as low IQ can cause low GDP.

The authors argued that it is the ethical responsibility of rich, high-IQ nations to financially assist poor, low-IQ nations, as it is the responsibility of rich citizens to assist the poor.

The book was cited several times in the popular press, notably the British conservative newspaper The TimesThe Times is a national daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. The Times is published by News International, a subsidiary of the News Corporation group, owned by Rupert Murdoch. For much of its history, the newspaper was regarded as without rival, the 'ne. It has been the subject of some debate in academia, with at least one positive review, but a number of reviewers heavily criticised its statistical methods. Because Tatu Vanhanen is the father of Matti VanhanenMatti Taneli Vanhanen (born November 4, 1955, in Jyvaskyla) is the current Prime Minister of Finland (as of July 2003) and chairman of the Centre Party. Vanhanen has a university education in political science, has worked as a journalist, and is regarded, the FinnishDue to the history of Finland and its neighbours, and the relatively small number of Finns, the term Finnish can cause confusion: It can indicate nationality of the Finns, usually acquired by birth in Finland It can indicate ethnicity, see Finnic, Ethnic Prime minister, his work has received wide publicity in Finland.

1 National IQ estimates

Central to the book's thesis, and perhaps one of its most controversial parts, is a tabulation of what Lynn and Vanhanen believe to be the average IQs of the world's nations. Rather than do their own IQ studies (a potentially massive project), the authors average and adjust existing studies.

The figures were obtained by taking unweighted averages of different IQ tests. The number of studies is very limited; the IQ figure is based on one study in 34 nations, two studies in 30 nations. The number of participants in each study were usually limited, often numbering under a few hundred. The exceptions to this were the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in and JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, for which studies using more than several thousand participants are available. Studies that were averaged together often used different methods of IQ testing, different scales for IQ values and/or were done decades apart.

There are also errors in the raw data presented by authors. The results from Vinko Buj's 1981 study used different scaling than Lynn and Vanhanen. Also, Buj's original IQ figures in Ireland, Norway and Greece differ from the figures given by Lynn and Vanhanen.

They also adjusted the figures relative to the baseline of UK results, which was taken as 100. When the overall population of the sample countries is taken into account, the mean IQ of the world as indicated by these figures is about 90, which is different than the standard calibration, which sets the mean IQ of any total population at 100.

To account for the Flynn effectThe Flynn effect is the continued year-on-year rise of IQ test scores, an effect seen in all parts of the world, although at greatly varying rates. It is named after New Zealand political scientist James R. Flynn, its discoverer. The average rate of rise (an increase in IQ scores over time), the authors sometimes adjust the results of older studies upward by an arbitrary number of points. Because of the arbitrary adjustments and the fact that only limited data are available for most nations, the figures given should be considered estimates and can reasonably be expected to vary by about 10 or 15 points in either direction.

It should be noted that there is controversy about whether IQ is a valid measurement of intelligence, especially among third-world populations. See the article at IQ for details, as well as the article Race and intelligence. In particular, note that most individuals in a given country will not have the country's average IQ, and that it is generally agreed that many factors, including environment, culture, demographics, wealth, pollution, and educational opportunities, affect measured IQ.

One common criticism is that many of the countries with the best average scores are those where testing (e.g. American SATs, baccalaureate examinations) is a crucial aspect of the educational process, and that many of these tests (esp. the SATs) have been shown to be very similar to IQ tests. In these nations, because students study extensively for the high-stakes examinations, it is quite possible that IQ scores are higher because people are subjected to frequent examinations for which they prepare extensively. See Flynn effect.

There are many difficulties when one measuring IQ scores across cultures, and in multiple languages. First of all, use of the same set of exams requires translation, with all its attendant difficulties. To adapt to this, many IQ testers rely on both verbal tests, involving word analogies and the like, and non-verbal tests, which involve pictures, diagrams, and conceptual relationships (such as in-out, big-small, and so on). Roughly the same results tend to be gained with either approach.

2 Estimates of other countries

For the rest of the 185 nations, no studies are available. In those cases, the authors have presented an estimated value by taking averages of the IQs of surrounding nations. For example, the authors arrived at a figure of 84 for El Salvador by averaging their calculations of 79 for Guatemala and 88 for Colombia. Those estimates are not included in calculations of income differences and do not appear in the table below.

Several cases merit specific attention. To obtain a figure for South Africa, the authors averaged IQ studies done on different ethnic groups, resulting in a figure of 72. The figures for Colombia, Peru and Singapore were arrived at in a similar manner. For the PRC, the authors used a figure of 109.4 from a study done in Shanghai and adjusted it down by an arbitrary 6 points because they believed the average in China's rural areas was probably less than that in Shanghai. Another figure from a study done in Beijing was not adjusted downwards.

Country	IQ estimate
Hong Kong	107
South Korea	106
Japan	105
Taiwan (ROC)	104
Singapore	104
Austria	102
Germany	102
Italy	102
Netherlands	102
Sweden	101
Switzerland	101
Belgium	100
China (PRC)	100
New Zealand	100
United Kingdom	100
Hungary	99
Poland	99
Spain	99
Australia	98
Denmark	98
France	98
Norway	98
United States	98
Canada	97
Czech Republic	97
Finland	97
Argentina	96
Russia	96
Slovakia	96
Uruguay	96
Portugal	95
Slovenia	95
Israel	94
Romania	94
Bulgaria	93
Ireland	93
Greece	92
Malaysia	92
Thailand	91
Croatia	90
Peru	90

Country	IQ estimate
Turkey	90
Colombia	89
Indonesia	89
Suriname	89
Colombia	88
Brazil	87
Iraq	87
Mexico	87
Samoa	87
Tonga	87
Lebanon	86
Philippines	86
Cuba	85
Morocco	85
Fiji	84
Iran	84
Marshall Islands	84
Puerto Rico	84
Egypt	83
India	81
Ecuador	80
Guatemala	79
Barbados	78
Nepal	78
Qatar	78
Zambia	77
Congo-Brazzaville	73
Uganda	73
Jamaica	72
Kenya	72
South Africa	72
Sudan	72
Tanzania	72
Ghana	71
Nigeria	67
Zimbabwe	66
Congo-Kinshasa	65
Sierra Leone	64
Ethiopia	63
Equatorial Guinea	59

3 U.S. states

Some sources, such as The Economist, 15th-21st May 2004 (p.44 in the UK edition), have reported a list of average IQ's of U.S. states, supposedly from IQ and the Wealth of Nations. In fact, such data do not appear in the book. In the following week's edition, The Economist admitted their error and stated (in their column On the trail) that they "were the victim of a hoax".

4 References

IQ and the Wealth of Nations Richard Lynn, Tatu Vanhanen Praeger, BooksEnthsiast.com
See [1]
International Monetary Fund reported 2004 per capita GDP (PPP). [2]

5 See also

6 External links

"Intelligence and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations" - article by Lynn and Vanhanen

"The Impact of National IQ on Income and Growth: A Critique of Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen's Recent Book" - article by Thomas Volken (PDF)

2002 books Controversial books

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