Posted on 03/17/2011 1:10:05 PM PDT by decimon
It's not just how free the market is. Some economists are looking at another factor that determines how much a country's economy flourishes: how smart its people are. For a study published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, researchers analyzed test scores from 90 countries and found that the intelligence of the people, particularly the smartest 5 percent, made a big contribution to the strength of their economies.
In the last 50 years or so, economists have started taking an interest in the value of human capital. That means all of the qualities of the people who make up the workforce. Heiner Rindermann, of the Chemnitz University of Technology, wanted to look more closely at human capital, and particularly the factor that psychologists call cognitive ability. "In other words, it's the ability of a person to solve a problem in the most efficient way—not with violence, but by thinking," Rindermann says. He wrote the new study with James Thompson of University College London.
The researchers collected information on 90 countries, including far-off lands from the U.S. to New Zealand and Colombia to Kazakhstan. They also collected data on the country's excellence in science and technology—the number of patents granted per person and how many Nobel Prizes the country's people had won in science, for example.
They found that intelligence made a difference in gross domestic product. For each one-point increase in a country's average IQ, the per capita GDP was $229 higher. It made an even bigger difference if the smartest 5 percent of the population got smarter; for every additional IQ point in that group, a country's per capita GDP was $468 higher.
"Within a society, the level of the most intelligent people is important for economic productivity," Rindermann says. He thinks that's because "they are relevant for technological progress, for innovation, for leading a nation, for leading organizations, as entrepreneurs, and so on." Since Adam Smith, many economists have assumed that the main thing you need for a strong economy is a government that stays out of the way. "I think in the modern economy, human capital and cognitive ability are more important than economic freedom," Rindermann says.
###
For more information about this study, please contact Heiner Rindermann at heiner.rindermann@psychologie.tu-chemnitz.de.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Cognitive Capitalism: The impact of ability, mediated through science and economic freedom, on wealth" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Tiffany Harrington at 202-293-9300 or tharrington@psychologicalscience.org.
Perhaps IQ follows income.
""I think in the modern economy, human capital and cognitive ability are more important than economic freedom," Rindermann says."
The collectivist doesn't fall far from his tree, ja?
Let's see...the Chinese were the smartest until they weren't but perhaps now are again. The Egyptians were the smartest... The Greeks were the smartest...
Apparently not. Look who the US elected as president.
At least we know that IQ does not follow public education.
that = than
I’ve read that the Japanese have the highest average IQ in the world.
Who is writing this stuff?
In the last two centuries, a group came out on top of the world, known as the free industrialized west, G7 (excepting Japan)... with one common thread.... they are the same dudes who rode together to the Crusades.
One group elevated itself to the top of the stack... and now some muslim marxist is trying to bring that group down. Worst part about it? Most do not see it. If they do, they are endorsing it.
The top five in that chart (Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore) were hopelessly backwards until recently. Europeans generally believed themselves to be quite intellectually superior to those peoples.
Supposedly Korea and Finland are higher. This survey shows Finland at 26 i think. I doubt it. They are pretty darn smart.
Geez. We’d all be billionaires if we could get the liberals to move out.
The smartest are those that value learning and truth the most.
We spend more on education...but that’s not the same as teaching truth.
We have very well paid indoctrinators that avoid truth like plague.
“The top five in that chart (Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore) were hopelessly backwards until recently. Europeans generally believed themselves to be quite intellectually superior to those peoples.”
Same here, but now I (German decent)respect, the Asian’s a great deal,Having children with both American and an Asian Wife (third )Saw the difference up close,Our daughter blew through the Math (Masters degree) and her problem solving skill was Amazing from a small girl,The emphases was on academic skills with contests, awards and the accolades as we do Sports here,My Wife was relentless in encouragement and support.
“Perhaps IQ follows income.”
It does. It is also silly to look at the mean/average IQ of a country as a whole, especially countries with immigrant populations..
There are many countries with bi-modal IQ distributions -— examples being USA and Israel —— where the IQ hovers at average, but, in reality you have a population of 80- IQs and a population of 120+ IQs.
But, it’s not politically correct to say who is in which bell curve.
Political correctness is denying reality, period. It is utopian lie that all people and cultures are the same, irrespective of facts.
Zimbabwe vs. Germany
Japan vs. Mexico
It’s no contest and if you attach a string to those people in America, most follow the same trend lines. The US is probabaly the only place in the world that people from poor areas can actually raise their station in life (outside of royalty).
Connecting the logic dots is not PC, so the Libs keep pitching it.
I don’t think so.
The US elected obama.
“The US is probabaly the only place in the world that people from poor areas can actually raise their station in lifea”
Wouldn’t know it the way some people moan about this place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.