IQ and Global Inequality - Softcover

Richard Lynn And Tatu Vanhanen

3.65

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Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593680244 ISBN 13: 9781593680244

Publisher: Washington Summit Publishers, 2006

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We address the following questions. First, in Chapter 1, we review the major theories of economic growth that have been developed since this problem was considered by Charles de Montesquieu and Adam Smith in the eighteenth century and introduce the 192 countries of this study. In Chapter 2 we define and describe what is meant by intelligence. In Chapter 3, we summarize work showing that intelligence is a determinant of incomes and related phenomena (educational attainment and socio-economic status) among individuals in a number of countries; this is the basis of our theory that the intelligence of national populations is likely to be a determinant of per capita incomes among nations. Chapter 4 describes how we have collected and quantified the IQs of nations and presents new IQ data for a further 32 nations. This brings the total number of nations for which we have measured IQs to 113. In addition, national IQs are estimated for 79 other countries so that we have IQs for all countries with populations of more than 40,000. In Chapter 5, five measures of the quality of human conditions and their composite index (QHC) are introduced as well as 12 alternative variables that measure human conditions from different perspectives. In Chapter 6, the hypothesis on the positive relationship between national IQ and the quality of human conditions is tested by empirical evidence on PPP GNI (Gross National Income at Purchasing Power Parity) per capita in 2002, adult literacy rate in 2002, tertiary enrollment ratio, life expectancy at birth in 2002, and the level of democratization in 2002. Chapter 7 focuses on the relationship between national IQ and the composite index of the quality of human conditions (QHC) The results are analysed at the level of single countries on the basis of regression analyses. The results are checked by exploring the impact of latitude and annual mean temperature on human conditions through national IQ. Chapter 8 shows that national IQ is correlated also with many other variables that measure differences in human conditions from different perspectives. Twelve alternative variables are used in these analyses. Chapter 9 discusses the contributions of genetic and environmental determinants to national differences in intelligence and concludes that the racial identity of the population is the major factor. Chapter 10 considers the causal interactions between our most important measures. Chapter 11 (Criticisms and Rejoinders) discusses and responds to the criticisms made of our theory by reviewers. Finally, we summarize the results and conclusions of this study in Chapter 12 and discuss policy implications. Five appendices complement the text. In Appendix 1, the calculation of national IQs for 113 countries is presented and documented. Appendix 2 includes documented empirical data on the adult literacy rate in 2002, the gross enrollment ratio at the tertiary level of education, PPP GNI per capita in US dollars in 1002, and the life expectancy at birth in 2002 for the total group of 192 countries. Appendix 3 provides documented data on the measures of democracy, of the calculated values of the Index of the Quality of Human Conditions (QHC), and of latitude and annual mean temperature. Appendix 4 includes residuals of regression analyses of the five components of QHC on national IQ for single countries in the group of 192 countries. Appendix 5 provides estimated data on per capita GDP derived from Maddison (2003) for 1500 and 2000 in a group of 109 countries."

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About the Author:

RICHARD LYNN is Emeritus Professor of Psychology of the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland. He graduated in Psychology at the University of Cambridge and has held positions at the University of Exeter and the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin. Among his earlier books are Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations (1996) and Eugenics: A Reassessment (2001), IQ and the Wealth of Nations (Co-author, 2002), and Race Differences in Intelligence (2006). TATU VANHANEN is Emeritus Professor of Political Science of the University of Tempere, Finland, and Emeritus Docent of Political Science of the University of Helsinki. He became Doctor of Social Sciences at the University of Tampere in 1968 and has held positions at the University of Jyv�skyl� , at the University of Tampere and the University of Helsinki. Among his earlier books are The Process of Democratization: A Comparative Study of 147 States, 1980-88 (1990), On the Evolutionary Roots of Politics (1992), Prospects of Democracy: A study of 172 Countries (1997), Ethnic Conflicts Explained by Ethnic Nepotism (1999) and IQ and the Wealth of Nations (Co-author, 2002).

Review:

This new book by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen is an elaboration and extension of their IQ and the Wealth of Nations (2002) in which they showed that IQ scores correlated around 0.70 with per capita income and rates of economic development in over 81 countries. This was a very bold claim. The cause of national differences in wealth is one of the major problems in economics. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject and several journals are devoted to it. Only very rarely is it ever suggested that national differences in intelligence help determine why some nations are so rich while others are so poor. In my view, Lynn and Vanhanen have made what is arguably the most important contribution to economic understanding since Adam Smith showed that free markets promote economic development. They have shown also that national IQs explain much of the variation between nations in a wide range of economic and social phenomena--not just income levels. Their book extends the explanatory power of the concept of intelligence in a way that makes a major contribution to the integration of psychology with the other social sciences. In advancing their intelligence theory, Lynn and Vanhanen begin by noting that economists usually regard it as axiomatic that all peoples of the world have the same intelligence. The assumption that the average level of intelligence is the same in all nations is seriously wrong. Lynn and Vanhanen have examined the matter. They found huge national differences in intelligence. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have average IQs of 67. Some of the "Asian Tiger" nations of the Pacific Rim average out at 105. For perspective, the reader might note that an IQ of 70 is the lower limit for primary school educability, and an IQ of 105 the lower limit for College-level (although of course these can always be "dumbed down." In IQ & Global Inequality, Lynn and Vanhanen have increased the number of countries for which they have calculated measured IQs from 81 to 113. They show that in the new larger sample of 113 countries the correlation between IQ and per capita income for 2002 is 0.68, virtually identical to the correlation reported in their earlier book. A path model in which genes and environment both contribute equally (0.50) to national IQs allows a determination of economic growth (0.71) from 1500 to 2000. These national differences in the rate of economic growth are almost entirely responsible for the contemporary differences in per capita income (0.98). The model also posits that national IQs are determinants of a number of social phenomena such as adult literacy (0.64), enrolment in tertiary education (0.75), life expectancy (0.77), and democratisation (0.57). Some of these phenomena have positive feedback relationships. For instance, nations whose populations have high IQs have high per capita incomes, which enable them to provide high quality nutrition, education, and health care for their children, and these enhance their children's intelligence. This is the principle of genotype-environment correlation applied to national populations. IQ & Global Inequality addresses more fundamentally the question of the causes of national differences in intelligence. It concludes that these depend on the racial composition of the populations. Thus, the 6 East Asian nations (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) all have IQs in the range of 105 to 108. The 29 European nations all have IQs in the range of 92 to 102, while the 19 nations of sub-Saharan Africa all have IQs in the range of 59 to 73. Thus there is remarkable consistency in the IQs of nations when these are classified into racial clusters. Like many important discoveries in science, it seems obvious in retrospect that these national differences in intelligence must inevitably --J. Philippe Rushton

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