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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:30 am Post subject: Are the wealthiest countries the smartest countries? |
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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/afps-atw031711.php
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Are the wealthiest countries the smartest countries?
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. |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4M-4R70VV6-1&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f60a2002f93f0cfabafcd066062d0022&searchtype=a
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| Political theory has described a positive linkage between education, cognitive ability and democracy. This assumption is confirmed by positive correlations between education, cognitive ability, and positively valued political conditions (N = 183 − 130). Longitudinal studies at the country level (N = 94 − 16) allow the analysis of causal relationships. It is shown that in the second half of the 20th century, education and intelligence had a strong positive impact on democracy, rule of law and political liberty independent from wealth (GDP) and chosen country sample. One possible mediator of these relationships is the attainment of higher stages of moral judgment fostered by cognitive ability, which is necessary for the function of democratic rules in society. The other mediators for citizens as well as for leaders could be the increased competence and willingness to process and seek information necessary for political decisions due to greater cognitive ability. There are also weaker and less stable reverse effects of the rule of law and political freedom on cognitive ability. |
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2010/01/race-social-destruction-of-biological.php
Might as well have this discussion. |
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Menino80
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Location: Hodor?
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Can you really determine intelligence from standardized test scores? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| IQ tests are very useful tools to measure ability. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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Black people tend to have lower IQ scores than whites. It does make sense that many African countries where blacks are the majority are poverty stricken.
Then contrast that with places like Japan where IQ scores are decent and they have always prospered despite major setbacks and adversity. |
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Menino80
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Location: Hodor?
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Probably because Japan likes to take tests. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Menino80 wrote: |
| Probably because Japan likes to take tests. |
that's not how scientists collect sample data in experiments. They take random samples that are representative of the population. I know, facts are stubborn things. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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It could work the other way. Being richer leads to better education leads to better iq scores. Might be a bit of a chicken and the egg thing.
The original causes for differences in wealth could be similar to what's outlined in 'Guns, Germs and Steel'. I'd like to hear that author's take on this. |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Also, a poor country is more likely to have a brain drain. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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| those are both valid criticisms. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| IQ tests are very useful tools to measure ability. |
Is there a standardized test that is widely accepted for international comparisons? |
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Louis VI
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:14 am Post subject: |
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| The wealthiest countries are the most educated. The extra step to claims of native intelligence superiority is a right wing justificatory wet dream. Invest in education and the population will demonstrate more intelligence on I.Q. tests and they certainly will know more about science and win more Nobel prizes, to cite some critera they used. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| Culture, I suspect, plays a signifcant role in how education translates into what would be considered "smart". |
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Louis VI
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:28 am Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
| Culture, I suspect, plays a signifcant role in how education translates into what would be considered "smart". |
Indeed. And a modern urbanite is pretty dumb when it comes to knowledge about basics of survival. Krakauer's Into the Wild can be seen as an account of a seemingly intelligent rich kid who couldn't survive in the wilderness. He lacked many basic skills of our human ancestors, like how to preserve meat. Intelligence in terms of book knowledge is entirely different than intelligence exhibited in practical matters. Our great grandparent's generation had a lot more skills than we do, and theirs before them. Taking your GPS when hiking and camping?  Cooking and gardening skills are being dumbed down. Could you even make your own noodles? Yeah the recipe is online, but without a computer handy you would be clueless. Our brain power is being channelled into more reified realms detached from the world and our knowledge follows trivial pursuits of really limited mental-physical coordination. We may be smarter, but we are dumber too. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| Louis VI wrote: |
| The wealthiest countries are the most educated. The extra step to claims of native intelligence superiority is a right wing justificatory wet dream. |
How did these countries become the wealthiest? Is it just a matter of winning the climate and natural resource lottery or are there other reasons? |
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beck's
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:16 am Post subject: |
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The free market makes countries rich. India was in the jaws of poverty before freeing up her economy. Now India is an economic leader in Asia. Indians before the early 90s were just as smart as they are today. The difference is that now they have a freer market.
Wealthy countries, ie those with a free market, are able to invest in education. Richer people are able to access education and so increase their earning power. Human capital is made more valuable.
The problem is that wealthy, productive people are not reproducing themselves at a high enough rate. The people that are having many children are the impulsive, undeducated ones and the recent immigrants from Third World countries.
Much of the whole of central California is now living in Third World conditions due to uncontrolled Mexican immigration. There was a recent article in Harpers on this phenomenon. In Maine, Maine of all places, Somali thugs randomly attack the locals. Why do uneducated Somalis choose Maine as a place of residence. Easy. Maine has better social entitlements. |
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